


The Perils of Lorindar

by Marcus_S_Lazarus



Series: The Twilight Storm [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Princess Series - Jim C. Hines, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23548117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcus_S_Lazarus/pseuds/Marcus_S_Lazarus
Summary: While investigating a rift in the vortex, the Doctor and Bella are drawn into a very unique world, where they must join forces with some unexpected new allies to face a nightmare from the Doctor’s past...
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Bella Swan, Tenth Doctor/Ermillina "Snow White" Curtana
Series: The Twilight Storm [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694503
Kudos: 4





	1. The Rift

**Author's Note:**

> The first part of a three-way crossover that I hope will meet with the approval of my readers, as the Tenth Doctor and Bella Swan find themselves in a new world with new allies who are strangely familiar to both, facing an old and deadly enemy of the Doctor's…

"You see, Bella," the Doctor said, looking at me in a rare example of his more casual 'lecture mode', when we started talking about something that wasn't related to the current threat, still enjoying our time off after the emotional trauma of the Doctor nearly being erased from history, "the key thing to remember when dealing with history is that people will always edit out certain details when writing about what happened."

"And it's sometimes hard to know whether what they edited out was important?" I asked, smiling thoughtfully as I contemplated this interesting news.

"Exactly," the Doctor said, nodding in approval at me. "For example, a few centuries back I went back to the Russian Revolution and met up with Rasputin-"

" _Rasputin_?" I said, my mind suddenly flashing back to that animated _Anastasia_ movie I'd seen a few years ago. "You mean… that mad monk who helped kill the Russian royal family?"

"My point exactly," the Doctor said, smiling in confirmation at me. "History's _portrayed_ him as a man who used his hypnotic influence to control the Romanovs, but actually he only had that kind of power in the family because he'd treated the youngest son for an illness and they couldn't admit what was wrong with the boy; he made himself such a prominent person to draw attention away from the more awkward Alexandra, and he tended to be so direct when talking to other people because he'd taken a bit of a knock as a child and it left him needing to really focus when having a conversation."

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling rather depressed about how quick I'd been to judge the man, despite the fact that I'd known virtually nothing about Rasputin before now apart from that time I'd watched the cartoon movie _Anastasia_. "So… he really wasn't that bad?"

"He spent some time talking with my current companion and all he did was ask her about some of the places she'd been because of his own love for travelling," the Doctor said, smiling at me before his expression became more sullen, clearly recalling a painful memory. "Of course, the disadvantage with being in that kind of situation is that you have to let the bad things happen even when they don't deserve it; the consequences of undoing a major event like Rasputin's death are just… well, they're complicated."

"They are?" I said curiously.

"I'm not saying that the Revolution itself was a good thing, but-" the Doctor began, only to be interrupted when alarms suddenly blared from the TARDIS console, prompting the Doctor to get to his feet and dash to examine the console while I followed him.

"What is it?" I asked, taking up position near him as the Doctor urgently studied the readings provided by his ship; evidently our self-declared vacation was at an end.

"There's some kind of rift in the fabric of the universe…" the Doctor said, staring at the screen in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened. "Oh, _that's_ not good…"

"What's not good?" I asked. "The rift?"

As I said the word, my mind was flashing back to the last rift we'd encountered, and what we'd dealt with then; the Daleks had been bad enough, but I sometimes wondered how the Doctor _really_ felt about the fact that he'd been back in a time before the Time War and couldn't do anything about it…

"Oh, the rift could be coped with- there's a few rifts scattered around the universe that can be anything from an annoyance to a threat to the local populace but can be left alone so long as someone knows they're there and how to cope with the consequences of their presence-; it's what's coming _through_ the rift that worries me," the Doctor said, looking grimly at me.

"Coming through it?" I repeated, before my eyes widened at the possible implications. "Are you saying… something's trying to get through from the other side? That something's invading us?"

"Possibly; the readings indicate a strong presence on the other side of the barrier that's trying to enter this realm, but the rift isn't strong enough to allow it through… whatever it is," the Doctor said, looking grimly at the screen. "I could be over-reacting and it's all just an accident on the other end, of course, but since we can't know _what's_ coming through that rift or even where it's from, the possibilities aren't encouraging; even if our potential intruder's not intentionally dangerous, it could be that it's just not equipped to cope in this universe because the laws of physics where it comes from are too different…"

Turning his attention to a nearby console, he ran a series of quick searches, tapping various buttons and flicking switches, before turning his attention back to the screen, nodding in approval at the results. "Well, from what I can pick up right now, the environment on the other side isn't _immediately_ dangerous, so just give me a moment to ensure the remote link's strong enough…"

"Excuse me?" I said, looking anxiously at the Doctor. "What are you talking about?"

"If we're going to find what's trying to come through, our best chance is to beat it at its own game and find out what we're dealing with while it's still on its own turf rather than on ours," the Doctor said, his expression grim as he moved to another console and began to make further adjustments to the controls. "It's risky, but if we confront it in an environment where our attacker knows the rules and isn't expecting an assaultwe might be able to turn the tables on it; they wouldn't know what _we_ could do to it there, after all."

"I thought you said we couldn't go through-" I began.

"The thing on the _other side_ can't get through the rift yet or it would have done it already, but that's just because it doesn't have our resources; all _we_ need to do to go through is set the TARDIS and brace ourselves," the Doctor clarified, smiling at me. "The TARDIS surpasses most other methods of travel through time and space, so it can go where other things would at least have more trouble; whatever's trying to get through from the other side needs to create certain conditions that the TARDIS can work out automatically-"

Further explanation was cut off as the TARDIS shook around us, leaving me to desperately grab on to one of the pillars as the Doctor held on to the console, staring at the screen in front of him as he fought for control, before the ship stopped with a shuddering impact, leaving me sprawling on the floor as I looked up at the Doctor as he lay against the console, which had suddenly become far darker than I was used to seeing it, only a few lights active compared to the usual illumination.

"Well," the Doctor said, looking at me with a smile that seemed more forced than normal after taking a moment to collect himself, "slight exaggeration of how automatic that was going to be- something about our destination the TARDIS doesn't quite like-, but we're there."

"And… where are we?" I asked, trying not to think too much about the darkness around us.

"The world that was the source of that attack," the Doctor said, his expression unusually grim as he looked at his darkened ship. "The TARDIS has gone into reserve power to maintain its resources; we're close enough to the rift that she can still draw on power from our universe, but she can't do anything more than what she's done already."

"We're… on a world?" I repeated, looking at the Doctor in confusion; we'd been to hostile planets before now, but something about the Doctor's word choice suggested that it was more complicated than that even without the TARDIS's current condition (I was trying not to think about that; the idea of the TARDIS breaking down wasn't something I wanted to face unless I had to). "Do you mean… planet?"

"Dimension, actually," the Doctor said.

"Pardon?" I said, looking at him in confusion at his unusual clarification.

"Well, I've explained the possibility of alternate realities to you by now, right?" the Doctor asked, looking curiously at me.

"You mean… the idea of worlds where something happened differently compared to how it turned out here?" I asked uncertainly; he'd mentioned alternate realities to me shortly after our experience on Arkheon, but I'd tried not to think too much about it because the possibility of a world where Edward hadn't gotten tired of me inspired various emotions that I wasn't sure about yet.

"Bingo," the Doctor said, nodding at me with a smile before he continued. "Anyway, other dimensions aren't the same; alternate realities are worlds virtually identical to the one we know with only some historical differences changed- people lived when they died or died when they lived, people married other people and had new children who made crucial discoveries earlier, that kind of thing-, but other dimensions are worlds that can operate on a completely different set of physical laws to what we know and may have virtually nothing in common with our world. I haven't gone to many of them, but I've encountered beings from those worlds more than once; the original vampires I told you about are an obvious example, but I learned a while back that one of my oldest opponents gains his powers because he comes from another dimension, and I've encountered at least two rifts to two different worlds that manifested themselves as the afterlife but were really worlds shaped by the perceptions of others."

"Oh," I said, suppressing my immediate question- if those worlds have _actually_ been the afterlife the Doctor would have said so- and turning my attention to another matter. "And… is this dimension like that?"

"Not entirely," the Doctor said, looking thoughtfully at the monitors. "As I said earlier, from what I can see, we haven't completely lost contact with 'our' universe, and we're dealing with a more permeable barrier than I normally encounter; I think we might be dealing with a Gardner Wall effect here…"

"A what?" I asked.

"You'll probably see when we step outside," the Doctor said, smiling briefly at me before he indicated the door. "On that topic, shall we?"

"What?" I said, looking at him in surprise. "You're saying we just… go outside?"

"Well, I'm fairly sure we're not in the exact location where that attack I detected was coming from, and everything I've seen suggests that this isn't dangerous to us, so taking a look outside should be safe enough," the Doctor said with a nonchalant smile. "So, shall we?"

"Uh… sure," I said, out of a lack of anything else to say; he seemed unusually casual after his earlier panic about the possibility of what we might find ourselves up against in this world, but he still seemed to be acting fairly normally, and his explanation for his actions made sense, so I wasn't going to start worrying just yet.

"Good," the Doctor said, as he walked up to the TARDIS door and opened it. "In that case, here we go!"

Looking at our immediate surroundings as I walked out of the TARDIS, I was immediately amazed at the scale of it. We were standing in the courtyard of a vast white palace, with towers and walls all around us, the sound of the sea audible from one side and the buildings themselves in virtually pristine condition. A few people were walking through the courtyard nearby, but if any of them had noticed the TARDIS they weren't commenting on it. A large gate at one end revealed glimpses of an old-fashioned-looking town, while the general attire of the locals put me in mind of the kind of clothing I'd seen in Disney movies or read about in fairy tales as a child, velvet and leather coming together to create various appearances ranging from elaborate robes to plainer attire (Although even those in the casual attire seemed to be fairly clean; if I'd seen this thing in history books I would have expected a smell, but everything seemed fairly clean).

"Wow…" I said, lost for words at the scale of what was around us.

"Quite," the Doctor said, smiling as he came outside to join me. "Very nice."

"Any ideas where we are?" I asked, looking curiously at him.

"Not immediately," the Doctor said, thoughtfully studying our surroundings as he walked away from the TARDIS. "There's something here, but like I said earlier, I'm also fairly sure that we haven't reached the exact source of that attack; this must just be-"

The Doctor was suddenly cut short when a knife appeared at his throat, followed by a woman walking out from behind the TARDIS with a cold expression on her face as she looked at us. She had dark skin and was dressed in dark red trousers and a sleeveless top that put me in mind of a corset, with at least three daggers strapped to her legs as well as the blade she was aiming at the Doctor, along with a silver bracelet around her right wrist.

"Who are you?" she said, glaring at the Doctor even as she pulled out another knife and aimed it in my approximate direction; judging by the way she held it, I had little doubt that she was capable of using it, but she had apparently identified the Doctor as the most likely 'threat'.

"Talia," another voice said from behind me, with a tone that suggested long experience with this situation, "didn't Beatrice tell you these two weren't dangerous?"

"They appeared _inside_ the castle, Princess," the woman who was apparently Talia said, looking at the speaker as she walked over to join the first woman. The latest arrival was a blonde woman in a white dress with what looked like a glass sword hanging at her waist. "I don't think I need to remind you of the power you need to do something like that if you're not allowed?"

"We don't even know where we _are_ right now; how can we be a threat?" I asked, turning to look at the speaker while trying to work out what was going on; how could these people live in what seemed to be a castle and not immediately start panicking about the impossibility of a box appearing out of thin air?

"Actually, we were just tracking a… well, something unusual, anyway… and we stopped off here to get a better idea of what it might be and where to go," the Doctor said, smiling brightly at the two women despite the knife still being held uncomfortably close to his throat. "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is my friend Bella; where are we?"

"'Where are we'?" the blonde princess repeated, looking at the Doctor in surprise. "You don't know where you _are_?"

"Disadvantage of travelling the way we do; it happens," the Doctor said with a casual shrug. "Can you tell me?"

"You're in Lorindar," the dark-skinned woman said, blade still at the Doctor's throat even as she seemed to be relaxing slightly. "Whiteshore Palace, to be exact."

"Really?" the Doctor said, looking up at the building with a new smile. "Whiteshore Palace… lovely name for a place, really."

"Thanks," a third voice said, prompting me to turn and look at another woman, this one a few years older than the other two, with streaks of grey in her long dark hair and faint lines around her red lips, dressed in a very tight-fitting bodice and wearing an elaborate mirrored choker around her neck in the shape of a snowflake. "It's definitely one of the nicer places where I've ever lived myself."

"Snow…" the dark-skinned woman said, looking at the older woman in frustration.

"Snow?" I repeated, looking at the third woman in confusion, even as the possible implications came to me; a beautiful woman, pale skin, dark hair that was only further emphasised by the white streaks at the front, bright red lips…

It would have been a ridiculous thought to have under normal circumstances, but after dating a vampire, confronting a race of alien mutants, being trapped in a second by a virtual god, finding myself in an alternate reality where my friend and mentor had been erased from history, and all the alien planets I'd seen in the last few months, I'd long ago told myself to believe everything to be on the safe side.

"Are you…" I began, momentarily uncertain if I could finish what I was about to say without feeling stupid, before I took a deep breath and spat it out; the similarities wouldn't leave me alone until I asked the question. "Are you Snow White?"

"That's me," the woman said, smiling at me.

I blinked at the absolute sincerity of the statement; I had been expecting some kind of defensive counter-argument, or maybe confusion about who I was talking about, but that statement had been made in such simple sincerity it couldn't be anything but the truth.

"You're… you're serious?" I said as I looked at her. "You're… you're really _Snow White_?"

"Snow…" the dark-skinned woman said, looking at Snow in frustration.

"What?" Snow said with a smile. "Bea didn't think they were dangerous, and if she was wrong, we're not exactly going to find it hard to stop them in this position; where's the harm in telling them who we are?"

"Thanks," the Doctor said, grinning at the woman in question before turning his attention to the dark-skinned woman with the knives, squinting at her for a moment before he smiled in understanding. "So, if _she's_ Snow White, that would make _you_ … Sleeping Beauty, am I right?"

"How do you know that?" the woman said, glaring at the Doctor as she raised her blades again, aiming them warningly at his face.

"Your temporal presence is about a century older than your overall quantum state and consciousness; if she's Snow White, Sleeping Beauty's the obvious choice for your identity, considering the century you spent asleep in most sources," the Doctor said with a shrug, as though temporal presences were something everyone could see.

"So…" I said, looking thoughtfully at the blonde, feeling stupid for even thinking what I was about to say, "if they're Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, would that make you… I mean, the glass makes me think of… Cinderella?"

"Yes," the blonde said, with a resigned tone that suggested she was used to that name. "That's the name I seem to have been given in the kingdom's stories, anyway; I'm fine with Danielle."

"Danielle," I said, nodding awkwardly out of a lack of anything else to do that wouldn't leave me looking or feeling like an idiot. "Right… sorry…"

"What did you mean by all that stuff about my… temporal presence?" Talia asked, glaring at the Doctor once more.

"Oh, it's one of the little bonuses I receive thanks to my extra senses; I don't use it often, but considering the circumstances, I thought it was appropriate to check," the Doctor explained, grinning casually at Talia before looking at the blonde who was apparently Cinderella. "Anyway, Princess Danielle, you mentioned a 'Beatrice' earlier; who is she?"

"My mother-in-law," Danielle said, smiling slightly at the Doctor as she indicated the castle behind us. "And she's been waiting to meet you for a while, so if you could follow us?"

"Uh…" I said, stuck for anything else to say in this situation, even as the Doctor grinned and indicated to Danielle that she could lead the way, leaving me stuck with no other choice but to follow him as I stared at our surroundings in confusion.

I'd grown used to experiencing weird things in my life, but finding myself being confronted by Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White was still a virtually unprecedent level of weird even by my standards…


	2. The True History of Princesses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Background details provided here for those who haven't read Hines' work- I naturally assume you're aware of the essential details of all three princesses' 'public' tales- as well as information about how Lorindar and the rest of this world fit into the Doctor's universe; hope you like the result

As we were shown into the throne room, I tried to keep my breathing under control while staying as close to the Doctor as I could; thinking of the Doctor as a Time Lord was one thing, but the idea that I was in the same building as three classic characters from stories I'd heard as a child left me torn between screaming like a dizzy fangirl and running away in shock and confusion.

Adapting to aliens being real was one thing, but the thought that I was in a realm where _fairy tales_ were _real_ …

As we came to a halt in front of a raised marble dias, I realised that we had apparently reached our destination, prompting me to look up and see who we'd come here to see. There were two thrones at the top of the dias, made of rich oak and inlaid with ivory and gold; one was carved to resemble what I thought was a griffin, while the other looked like a swan, and had a woman sitting in it; I guessed that she was the queen while the king was away somewhere. The woman struck me as being painfully thin in a manner I couldn't help but associate with someone suffering from terminal cancer, wearing a fur-lined cloak despite the warm weather and holding on to a stout oak staff even as she sat before us. Her eyes gleamed with an inner strength that put me in mind of the Doctor, but otherwise her entire body gave the impression that a strong breeze would have knocked her down.

"So," she said, looking at my friend with a slight smile, "you are the one I've been dreaming about?"

"Should I be flattered or concerned?" the Doctor replied, smiling politely at the woman.

"My insight has allowed me to bring these three together; you may consider that as you will," the woman replied, indicating the three women behind us with a smile before she focused her gaze on my friend. "What is your name?"

"I am the Doctor, your Majesty," the Doctor replied, nodding politely at her before indicating me. "And this is my friend, Bella Swan."

"And I am Queen Beatrice of Lorindar," the woman replied, smiling at him before she looked at the Doctor with a firmer expression. "Now then, if introductions are out of the way, can I ask who you are and what you are doing here?"

"You may," the Doctor said, looking solemnly at the queen. "Your Majesty, there is something taking place that could be dangerous to your world and the world that Bella and I come from; I became aware of it in my travels and have come to investigate."

"Indeed?" Beatrice said, looking curiously at the Doctor. "And… what are you, that prompts you to make this offer?"

"And who's she to you?" Snow- I was in the same room as _Snow White_ \- asked, indicating me with an inquiring hand.

"I am… a traveller, your Majesty; I travel wherever I wish to, observing the many wonders that this world has to offer, and assist those I encounter when circumstances permit me to do so," the Doctor said, unusually formal despite his usual casual manner. "Bella Swan is a human, but she is my friend and companion, travelling with me to broaden her view of the world and provide her with new experiences; we met when she needed some time away from home and I needed a friend-"

"You're his friend?" Talia- _Sleeping Beauty_ \- said, holding up a hand to halt the Doctor as she looked at me with a very pointed stare, as though wanting to test something.

"Uh… yes?" I said, nodding awkwardly at the other woman, wondering what had prompted that kind of response. " _Just_ his friend; we're not… _together_ or anything like that."

"You haven't promised him anything in return for going along with him, or agreed to be with him because of some kind of payment?" the armed princess asked, an edge to her tone that I didn't understand.

"No…" I said, aware that my confusion was showing but completely lost as to what this woman was talking about; there was definitely something personal in these questions, but I had no idea what might have prompted them in the first place…

"Seriously, Talia, _relax_ ," Snow said, looking at the other woman with a smile. "Do you really think I wouldn't have noticed if there was some kind of deal going on here?"

"Deal?" the Doctor repeated, looking at her curiously.

"Fairy deals," Snow said with a smile. "It's not an exact science, but I've been working on picking up on some details if I'm actually trying; considering the circumstances of your arrival, I wanted to make sure I knew what we were dealing with."

"Fairies make deals?" I said in surprise.

"You don't exactly get something for nothing," Talia said, looking pointedly at me. "Or did you think that I got all those gifts at my christening because they were feeling generous?"

"Uh…" I said, my mind quickly going over what I remembered of _Sleeping Beauty_ from the various adaptations I'd heard over the years; discounting the specific names from the Disney version, I was fairly sure that I remembered the story's curse happening when various fairies came to the princess's christening to bless her with various gifts, only for one fairy to curse her with dying when she pricked her finger when she was sixteen…

"It all seemed generous at first, but the last fairy perverted the curse for her own ends; you don't want to know the details," Talia said grimly, looking at me in a manner that left me convinced that asking for more details wouldn't be a good idea; the stare she was giving me left me strongly reminded of Rosalie when the topic of her past came up.

"Right then; we won't ask for them," the Doctor said, looking reassuringly at Talia with a sympathetic smile as though she wasn't delivering a chilling glare, before his expression became more apologetic. "Still… I take it we can assume that the 'happily-ever-after' part of your story didn't really happen?"

"Let's just say that my wake-up call wasn't the simple kiss the stories say and leave it at that," Talia said grimly. "I was able to hone most of the gifts the fairies gave me to improve my ability to defend myself, and I don't sleep any more, but considering that my 'saviour' was the descendant of the man who ordered my family killed, you can understand why I didn't want to stay with him."

With that said, she turned and walked out of the throne room, leaving the Doctor and I to exchange awkward glances at having brought up what was clearly an awkward topic.

"Trust me, you really don't want to know what else the fairies had planned for her kingdom," Snow said, looking warningly at me as Talia left. "Danielle and I are probably her closest friends, and even _we_ wouldn't know about it if we hadn't been there when she learned the truth."

"The curse was part of an attempted coup?" the Doctor asked.

"…Among other things," Snow said after a moment's pause, nodding at my friend before she gave him a slight smile. "You're good, aren't you?"

"I've seen a lot over the course of my travels, Snow; if I wasn't quick at picking up minor details to work out the bigger picture, I wouldn't be here today," the Doctor explained, before he looked at the remaining two princesses with a smile. "So, since it sounds like Talia had to leave her kingdom for various reasons of political intrigue, and Danielle appears to be the resident princess, would you care to tell us how _you_ ended up here?"

"I was kicked out of my kingdom for killing my mother," Snow clarified.

"You were?" I repeated, looking at her in surprise (I decided not to ask if the queen had been her actual mother or her stepmother; that was a relatively minor detail that could have easily been 'edited' at some point to make her story more child-friendly). "But… if she was evil-"

"Her death just opened the doors for the more power-hungry members of the family to try and take the throne," Snow explained, shaking her head in frustration at the memory. "Queen Bea helped ensure that my cousin Lawrence took the throne- he was the least bloodthirsty of the alternatives- but they had to get me out afterwards; people needed a scapegoat for all the violence, and I _had_ killed the previous queen."

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling the inadequacy of any attempt I might make to apologise for bringing up a topic like that.

"Don't worry about it; you asked, so I decided to answer," Snow said, smiling reassuringly at me. "After all, Bea vouches for you."

"And that's enough?" the Doctor asked, looking at the queen curiously. "I mean no disrespect, your Majesty, but… well…"

"I've brought these three women together because I felt that they would need each other, and so far they have saved us all from some significant potential threats," the Queen said, smiling understandingly at my friend. "They trust me because I have done all that I can to aid them so far, and I trust them because they have proven themselves worthy of that trust; if we can trust each other based on my dreams, I'm fairly sure that we can trust you both on the same evidence."

"Uh… thanks," I said, feeling uncomfortable being grouped with the Doctor like that; I'd seen some interesting things in my time with him, but I wasn't completely comfortable with people treating me as though I was the Doctor's _equal_...

"As long as we're discussing our stories, what's yours like?" the Doctor asked, looking curiously at Danielle ( _Cinderella_!).

"Most of the story's an exaggeration; I… changed in the garden, sneaked over to the ball, and left before midnight to ensure that my step-family didn't get back to an empty house," Danielle clarified.

"So… no turning mice into horses or creating coaches out of pumpkins?" I asked, glad to see that Danielle just seemed embarrassed rather than angry when discussing her story.

"They're saying that now?" Danielle asked, looking at me in surprise.

"Just… where I come from," I said, shrugging slightly even as I gave her a slight smile; at least this story sounded less tragic than the other two. "Although I was wondering… why did your prince need to test you with the slippers?"

"His eyesight isn't very good," Danielle explained, smiling back at me with a slightly embarrassed air about her. "He's fine in daylight, but at night, even illuminated by candlelight…"

"Ah," I said, nodding in understanding.

"In any case," the Doctor said, clapping his hands together and turning back to the thrones, "now that those details are cleared up, Your Majesty, I can answer the second part of your question; my travels brought me within a short distance of your lovely kingdom, and we… became aware that there were things happening here that shouldn't be."

"'Things'?" the queen repeated, looking at my friend with a slight smile. "And what 'things' would these be?"

"I'm… still working on that, actually; I know they're happening in this area, but what I sensed might be here could have any number of side-effects I'm not aware of yet," the Doctor said, looking apologetically at the queen for a moment before he smiled again, as though his lack of an immediate explanation was just a minor inconvenience. "Still, the point is, if I was aware of something odd happening here, and you were aware that Bella and I were coming here, maybe you were aware of the first thing too?"

"Aside from my initial visions of you, I suppose?" Beatrice said, smiling slightly at the Doctor before she sighed and sat back in her chair. "Well… I will admit, something came to me, but the visions are always relatively vague; I was more focused on the certainty of your arrival than the question of what brought you here…"

She looked over at Snow. "I don't suppose you've heard anything I didn't?"

"Well… I don't remember hearing about anything significant recently, but I have a few people I could get in touch with, and I can always check the mirror…" Snow said, looking uncertainly between the queen and the Doctor.

"The mirror?" I repeated, looking sharply at Snow, struck by the obvious implications of Snow White talking about a mirror. "As in, your mother's mirror? 'Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all' and all that?"

"Of course," Snow replied. "It's a useful means of boosting my magic; after I took it away with me, why shouldn't I use it?"

I was suddenly struck by the memory of that bit in _Harry Potter_ about not trusting anything if you couldn't see where it thought, but I just as swiftly told myself not to think about that; talking about the rules of magic based on something I'd read in a book wasn't exactly going to get me anywhere.

"If you could just take a look around, I'd appreciate it," the Doctor said, smiling over at Snow. "I can't be sure how it would manifest here, but whatever Bella and I are looking for would be exceptionally powerful and definitely not part of the natural order; news of anything unusual that's been happening here would give me something to work with, if nothing else."

"Do you often dive in without knowing what you're looking for?" Snow asked, even as she returned the Doctor's smile with one of her own.

"Sometimes you don't have time to plan ahead," the Doctor replied, shrugging casually back at Snow before looking over at Beatrice and Danielle. "In the meantime, if you want to keep an eye on my box, could Bell and I have a couple of rooms?"

"So eager to invite yourself to stay, Doctor?" the queen asked in a slightly teasing manner.

"Eager to assure you that you have nothing to fear from us, your Majesty," the Doctor replied. "The box we arrived in serves as our means of transport; if you have control of that, we can't leave you, and you can feel free to allocate us any rooms you wish."

"Separate rooms if you can, please," I added, wanting to ensure that there was no confusion about our relationship; it was a minor detail, but I just felt that it was an important one.

"We have a pair of adjoining rooms in my tower," Danielle said, looking at us both with a smile. "They're a bit sparse, but they have the essentials in terms of furniture; will that do?"

"Perfect," the Doctor said, returning her smile with one of his own. "Just somewhere where we won't be underfoot and maybe with something to read while we wait for Snow to finish should be fine; thank you."

"Just be sure to avoid Talia if you see her," Snow added, smiling slightly at the Doctor as she turned to leave. "She tends to get worked-up when she's faced with the possibility of imminent danger and there's nothing for her to hit; she wouldn't attack without cause, but it's best to give her time to cool down."

I didn't need to have the Doctor's intellect to realise that the awkward questions we'd asked earlier wouldn't help us strike up a casual conversation with Talia; I still wasn't clear on how the Doctor had come to the conclusion that a coup was involved, but Talia definitely didn't want to talk about that issue any more than she had to…

* * *

Less than an hour later, after the Doctor and I had been shown to our current rooms- they each only consisted of a bed, a desk, an empty wardrobe and a full bookcase, but considering that nobody could have known who we were they'd managed rather well- I had finished testing my bed and gone through to find the Doctor studying one of the books as he casually sat at his desk.  
  
"Oh, hello," he said, grinning up at me as though this whole experience was just another day at the metaphorical office (Not that I could imagine the Doctor ever working in a real _office_ ). "Just been reading up on the history of this place-"  
  
"Before we get to that, can you just… clear a couple of things up for me first?" I asked, looking uncertainly at the Doctor; faced with the sheer impossibility of the world we'd just found ourselves in, I'd prefer to tackle the potentially smaller question first. "Firstly, why did you think that what happened to… Talia… was part of a coup?"  
  
"Well, when you think about it, when an entire royal household nods off for a hundred years or so, _someone's_ got to take over during that time, and it probably won't be in the most diplomatic manner," the Doctor said, smiling promptingly at me. "I mean, I'm all for people taking charge of themselves, but you don't go from kings to democracy like that; it's a long and complicated process, and Talia's family probably didn't prepare for the transition before everything… happened."  
  
"That's… a good point," I said, suddenly surprised that I hadn't thought of that when I'd heard the story in the past; the Disney version had trimmed down the time between the princess falling asleep and when she was woken up, but I had definitely read other versions where she slept for a century…  
  
"OK, so that's that answered, but that doesn't explain how these… how this whole _place_ can be _real_ ," I said, looking anxiously at the Doctor as I refocused my attention on the main issue; accepting vampires and aliens was one thing, but this was specific characters in a world of magic that didn't seem to fit _anything_ I'd experienced with the Doctor so far. "I mean… _Cinderella_ , _Snow White_ and _Sleeping Beauty_ are _real_?"  
  
"Excellent question," the Doctor said, smiling at me in approval. "Under normal circumstances, my initial assumption would be that we're in the Land of Fiction, but that doesn't work-"  
  
"The Land of Fiction?" I interrupted.  
  
"It's a realm outside Time where fictional creations are brought into existence by a Master or Writer- term varies according to preference- who controls everything; I've heard rumours that it was created by some old enemies of mine for entertainment, but if it was they abandoned it long ago and the Land's now only a threat based on who's controlling it," the Doctor explained. "I've visited it a few times- actually encountered Rapunzel the first time I popped by- but like I said, this can't be it; apart from the fact that this world is just another dimension rather than being outside of time altogether, there's too much background detail."  
  
"And that makes it less plausible that we've gone back there?" I asked. "We're in a world of _fairy tales_ -!"  
  
"Even if we ignore such background details as that aforementioned coup, let me ask you this; can you recall _any_ fairy tale adaptation where they actually named the kingdoms where everything took place?" the Doctor asked.  
  
"Uh… _Beauty and the Beast_?" I asked after a moment's thought.  
  
"Disney version just relocated it to France to make it plausible for a girl to be named some variation of 'Beauty'; that doesn't count, and the original version never specified a specific location," the Doctor said, shaking his head before he continued. "No, like I said, we must be dealing with an example of the Gardner Effect, and this is the realm where the tales were real; ergo, no details have been lost in the retelling, so everything's pretty much accounted for."  
  
"So… we're in another dimension… populated by fairy tale characters… that can use magic because the rules here aren't the same as back home… that my world somehow found out about?" I asked, wishing I could sound more confident even as I knew I was just coming across as completely lost right now; even the part about how magic worked was just a guess based on the Doctor's earlier explanation about how other dimensions differed from ours. "How does that… work?"  
  
"It's part of what we term the Gardner Effect," the Doctor explained, looking thoughtfully at me before he continued. "You see, Bella, some worlds are indirectly linked to each other in a manner that allows other worlds to be aware of the activities of their 'neighbours', but they're sometimes only receiving part of the full picture. Picture reality as a massive jigsaw puzzle, with the various parallel universes and other dimensions as pieces in the puzzle, each one independent but connected to the whole. As a result, some of these worlds sometimes get parts of the whole, without getting the full details; the history of this world has become our fairy tales back on Earth, permeating the wider human subconscious so that everyone has at least _some_ awareness of the stories, even if bits and pieces are misinterpreted or lost due to human error or editing decisions, but other worlds with less significant differences have been re-remembered as games or novels or television shows or comic books or even myths…"  
  
He shrugged. "It's complicated to witness, and you never know how much of what's written is the Gardner effect and how much is just peoples' imaginations- although the more popular writers and shows are generally 'real' _somewhere_ \- but it's rather fascinating to see what stands out after it gets through the barrier versus what actually happened if you can visit the original dimension; it's like our earlier discussion about historical perspective affecting the history books, you know."  
  
"Right…" I said, lost for anything better to say to that revelation.  
  
We were in a world where fairy tales were real- the world that may have actually been the _source_ of the fairy tales back on Earth- and somehow even the fairy tales didn't always manage to get a happy ending…  
  
It was nice that things had worked out for Cinderella, but learning what had happened to Sleeping Beauty and Snow White was actually rather depressing; so much for childhood innocence…  
  
Still, we had our immediate mission to focus on, and it wasn't like I didn't already know from experience that happy endings couldn't be guaranteed; the priority now was whatever threat the Doctor had detected was trying to leave here to threaten our world, not brooding about how even characters who were _meant_ to have a 'happy-ever-after' couldn't get it.  
  
"In the meantime," the Doctor said, indicating the book in his hands with a smile, "this has some interesting details on the history of Lorindar; shall I fill you in?"  
  
"Why not?" I asked, sitting down on the bed as the Doctor sat back in his chair and began to read the book; it might be childish, but it would be nice to have an excuse not to think too much right now…


	3. The True History of Fairy Tales

The next hour or so passed by relatively peacefully, which made a nice change of pace after some of the places I'd visited with the Doctor where we reached our destination and immediately had to start running; rest in the aftermath of a crisis was all well and good, but this was nice as well.

Of course, the fact that I was learning about a history that put a completely new spin on stories I'd heard ever since I was a child made it even more enjoyable; I might have moved on to more modern literature, but you never forgot the classics you grew up with.

According to the history book that the Doctor had discovered in his room, Lorindar maintained a peace treaty with the local fairies that essentially confined them and their magic to the territory known as 'Fairytown'- the name apparently meant something more complicated in the fairy language, so humans called it that for convenience's sake- ever since a war some centuries ago that ended when the human sorcerer Malindar threatened to destroy the fairies' hill that was the apparent source of at least most of their magical power. The precise details of the conflict weren't provided, but apparently the spell that Malindar had cast to end the war had created a large crack in the ground around and between Fairytown that had threatened to destroy the fairy hill, despite the fact that such an attack would have destroyed Lorindar as a whole as well as Fairytown. As it currently stood, both fairies and humans existed in a guarded truce, fairies bound by the treaty to be unable to use their wider magic outside Fairytown without being banished from their people, and expressly forbidden to harm any humans of noble blood, even if they were allowed some leeway in matters of self-defence and could still use some magic without needing the hill.

The Doctor hadn't exactly made his thoughts on that situation clear- considering that we were guests of the human rulers, he probably didn't want to risk appearing judgemental or angry at what they'd done in the past- but I'd been around him for long enough to guess how he felt about this situation. Humans and fairies might be at peace, but it was a guarded peace brought about with the understanding that the humans would have been willing to destroy the fairies rather than live as slaves, rather than both sides accepting that they could accomplish more together.

He had also done some background reading on some of the other countries in this world, such as the desert-kingdom of Arathea, which had apparently been ruled by Talia's family before the fairy curse had put them all to sleep when Talia was sixteen. His initial assessment of the situation in Talia's kingdom had apparently been correct; the fairies had 'offered' their services to rebuild the kingdom after the entire royal family fell asleep and were trapped behind a vast hedge of thorns, but everything the book had to offer all but explicitly stated that the fairies were now basically in charge of the entire kingdom, or at least were in a position to advise most of the ruling figures. The book only briefly discussed what happened after 'Sleeping Beauty' had woken up, but I already knew that I wasn't going to ask for more information; the fact that she was here made it clear that she hadn't just married her prince, but I doubted that Talia would answer any of my questions on that topic, and Snow and Danielle weren't likely to betray their friend's confidence.

By contrast, Snow's former kingdom of Allesandria was a country of ice that had apparently been the 'birthplace' of human magic in this world, with various prominent sorcerers coming from that part of the world and an unparalleled knowledge of human magic, even if the political situation was questionable and their fairies had all been driven off or killed some time ago. The books made all kind of vague references to what Snow's mother had done during her life and how Snow had actually defeated her, but they were fairly clear on the fact that her cousin had inherited her throne, even if it didn't elaborate on what happened to her afterwards.

It was kind of strange, reading about all these things as history and _knowing_ that what happened to the people they were talking about wasn't the happy ending the general population were expecting; it reminded me all too keenly of the conversation the Doctor and I had been having earlier about the importance of historical perspective.

It really was the winning side who wrote the history books in the end…

"So… if fairies aren't innocent helpers… I take it that Danielle didn't go to the ball because of her fairy godmother?" I asked, after we'd sat in silence for a few moments.

"With _these_ fairies to deal with?" the Doctor replied, shaking his head grimly. "If any fairy _had_ helped Danielle go to the ball, they'd probably have pulled a Rumplestiltskin and demanded her first-born child in exchange."

"So… where would she get the gown?" I asked uncertainly. "I mean, I suppose she could have made it herself like she tried to in the movie, but _glass slippers_ …?"

"It was probably her mother," the Doctor replied.

"Her mother?" I repeated in surprise, quickly trying to remember what I'd heard about Cinderella's story before I spoke again. "But… wasn't her mother dead?"

"True," the Doctor confirmed, nodding at me with a smile. "However, the early versions of the tale back on Earth have Cinderella receiving the gown when she was praying in front of a tree she'd planted in her mother's memory; the dress was brought to her by doves that were implied to have been sent by her mother's spirit to help her."

"And… you think that happened here?" I said uncertainly; even if we were in a world of where spells and fairies were reality, I was surprised to hear the Doctor being this accommodating about the idea of someone receiving a gown from the afterlife…

"We're in a world of magic, Bella," the Doctor reminded me. "It doesn't work back home- not most of the time, anyway; I've encountered a couple of exceptions to the rule- but that doesn't mean it couldn't be possible here."

"Magic's possible back home?" I asked in surprise.

"Under the right circumstances," the Doctor confirmed. "I've encountered Morgraine le Fay a couple of times- I'm actually Merlin in one world through a complicated chain of events this isn't the right time to talk about- and I once encountered a group who were trying to control a water elemental in New Orleans… like I said, it's complicated."

"Oh," I said, lost for anything else to say.

If the circumstances had been different, I would have asked for more on that story- the idea of the Doctor being _Merlin_ raised some fascinating possibilities that I would have liked to talk to him about- but a sudden yawn reminded me just how long I'd been up since this morning.

Considering that we could be called to talk with the queen and the princesses about the events that had brought us here at any moment, it would probably be a good idea for me to get some sleep before they came back (Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure if the Doctor even _needed_ to sleep). Giving a brief apology to the Doctor, I returned to my adjoining room, collapsed on the bed…

* * *

It seemed like it was only a few minutes later- although I later learned that it had been around three hours; I still felt tired, but I was at least slightly fresher- that I was being shaken awake by the Doctor and brought back down to the throne room. By the time I arrived, Queen Beatrice was sitting in her throne and the three princesses were gathered around her once again, the Doctor standing politely in front of them. Talia still looked somewhat edgy as she looked at the Doctor when the two of us were shown into the room- I wondered what stories the guards had been told to account for our presence- but she didn't look like she was going to attack him or anything like that, which should probably count as progress but just left me wondering what had prompted her to relax to that extent.  
  
"I trust your rooms were satisfactory?" Queen Beatrice asked, looking between us with a slight smile.  
  
"More than comfortable, your highness," the Doctor said, bowing slightly in gratitude. "Bella and I had a very interesting time reading some books on your country's history, and then I appreciated the opportunity to refresh my memory on magic."  
  
"You do magic?" Snow and Talia asked simultaneously, Snow's tone eager while Talia's was more guarded (I tried to resist the urge to stare; hearing that the Doctor was known as Merlin wasn't the same as hearing he could actually _do_ magic, considering all those stories he'd told me about aliens using technology to pose as gods).  
  
"I dabble when the occasion requires it, and I am somewhat known on Bella's world for my skill, but that was a long time ago; I rarely use my talents in that area these days, so it seemed like a good opportunity to go over things," the Doctor explained, shrugging as he looked over at Snow. "Nothing wrong with magic itself, Snow; it's just not something I can use regularly."  
  
"Draining on you, is it?" Snow asked with a smile.  
  
"More accurate to say that I spent a long time learning how to get by without it and feel that it's cheating to do it otherwise," the Doctor explained. "Give me a foe who uses magic and I'll match them spell for spell if I can; I just don't use it when I'm not in that situation."  
  
"Interesting philosophy," Snow said, looking thoughtfully at the Doctor for a moment before she shrugged and turned back to address the group. "Anyway, I've been talking with Arlorran and he's confirmed the rumours; there _is_ something happening on the outskirts of Fairytown."  
  
"Rumours?" I repeated in surprise.  
  
"Our current relationship with Fairytown is… complicated," Danielle explained, looking at me with an awkward smile. "The ambassador from Fairytown was forced to exile himself when he broke the treaty to save Snow and Talia from an attack, and they haven't officially appointed his replacement yet…"  
  
"Ah, red tape, eh?" the Doctor said, grinning at Danielle in sympathetic understanding before he looked at Snow. "Who's Arlorran?"  
  
"He's a gnome back in Fairytown who works as the fairy queen's royal summoner," Snow explained. "He gave us some help in finding Danielle's husband a couple of years back, and we gave him wings in return; he's been a good friend, even if we don't see him that much."  
  
"Uh… royal summoner?" I asked.  
  
"He specialises in bringing people to the queen or sending them to other locations so long as he knows who he's calling for, the location he's sending them to, and they're not magically protected by anything," Snow explained. "Anyway, he was able to tell me that there's been some unusual disappearances in Fairytown recently; fairies going inexplicably missing, a few unusual occurrences in certain areas, that kind of thing…"  
  
"The Duchess?" Talia asked.  
  
"The Duchess?" I repeated in confusion. "Who's that?"  
  
"A particularly powerful fairy," Talia explained as she looked over at me, a particularly malicious expression on her face at the topic. "She's capable of most standard fairy powers to an exceptional degree, but she's officially an outcast from Fairytown."  
  
"Why's that?" the Doctor asked.  
  
"She once attempted to kill the fairy queen and take her place," Talia explained. "Her ingenuity so impressed the king that, even after the attempt failed, he decided to claim her for his own rather than allow the queen to execute her; the queen agreed with the decision so long as she never had to see the Duchess again. The king took her as a servant, but when the Duchess made a vow to serve him after seeing one last sunrise, she dived into the earth before the sun rose; she remains free so long as she never sees the sun rise, and nobody wants to go down there if they have to."  
  
"And they can't just exile her because then she'd be free of her oaths to both king and queen?" the Doctor asked.  
  
"Fairies hold grudges like nobody's business," Talia said, smiling slightly as she looked at him.  
  
"Unfortunately," Snow said, picking up the story once again, "it can't be the Duchess behind this; she's powerful enough, but she wouldn't want to do anything that would provoke others into going to look for her. The king and queen have to leave her alone because of their various deals with her, but if enough of their subjects decided to act against the Duchess on their own, neither are actually bound to protect her."  
  
"Attacking humans is one thing, but attacking other fairies is something else?" the Doctor asked, shaking his head in exasperation. "It's the same all over; always a different standard when you're hurting another species…"  
  
As though realising that he'd spoken out loud, he looked apologetically at the four local women before he shrugged and clapped his hands together. "Anyway, no time to get into debates like that now; what's the immediate priority?"  
  
"Do you think that these disappearances have something to do with what brought you here?" Beatrice asked.  
  
"Most likely," the Doctor said. "I've certainly investigated more obvious problems that started with smaller clues; if these disappearances are particularly out-of-the-ordinary, they make as apt an area to start our investigation as any."  
  
"'Our' investigation?" Snow said, looking at the Doctor in a slightly teasing manner. "You're coming with us?"  
  
"I believe your queen said I might be needed?" the Doctor replied, smiling over at the oldest woman present in a slightly teasing manner.  
  
"True," Beatrice said, nodding briefly at the Doctor before she turned to face me. "And as for Miss Swan…"  
  
"Where the Doctor goes, I go," I said firmly.  
  
"You'd better let her," Snow said, looking at me for a moment before she smiled up at Beatrice. "Last time I saw someone that determined was when Danielle here was helping us plan how to rescue your son."  
  
"I only ever take the best as my… students," the Doctor said, smiling gratefully at Snow as he placed an arm around me to give me a brief hug.  
  
As much as I appreciated the sentiment, I suddenly found myself wondering if I was really ready for this.  
  
Last year I'd been a relatively normal girl, and now I was travelling through time and space with an _alien_ and was about to go on a mission to try and find something that was abducting fairies in the company of _Cinderella_ , _Sleeping Beauty_ , and _Snow White_ …  
  
My life was _really_ weird…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to know about the Doctor's past encounters with magic, the First Doctor learned magic in the novel "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (He was on a planet where humans _appeared_ to have magic powers due to a complex nanite network, but the principle of the lessons he learned there could apply here), the Seventh Doctor faced a version of Morgraine from an alternate dimension in the TV show "Battlefield" (It was implied that he would become Merlin in his future in Morgraine's dimension, but the Eighth Doctor dealt with that issue in the short story "One Fateful Knight"), the Eighth Doctor faced a woman who believed she was the reincarnation of Morgraine in the novel "Wolfsbane" (It wasn't specified if she was correct or just delusional; the Fourth Doctor helped to deal with the after-effects of her actions, but he didn't face Morgraine himself), and the Eighth Doctor had to deal with a series of complicated attempts to control a water elemental in New Orleans in the novel "The City of the Dead".
> 
> On a related topc, some novels have suggested that the Time Lords banished magic and unreality from the universe when they assumed power, with its greater prominence in the post-Time War universe a result of their absence, but I'm going to stick with the idea that it's still very complicated to use it in our reality save for specific circumstances, so Lorindar will remain a separate dimension altogether.


	4. Talks with a Princess

After the shocks that I'd received regarding Lorindar's way of life since our arrival, I was actually relieved when I learned that we were travelling to Fairytown's borders in a straightforward horse and cart, the Doctor and I riding with Danielle while Snow and Talia followed in another carriage (Something to do with us being the guests of the queen while Snow and Talia were officially servants; appearances had to be maintained to prevent too many people realising who the other two were). The only surprising thing was that none of the carriages had any drivers; as far as I could tell, the horses were just walking in a certain direction and that was that. I'd asked about that, but Danielle had simply replied with a smile that her friends knew where they needed to go and left it at that; I'd wondered if this tied into how Cinderella had all those animal friends in the Disney movie, but when I couldn't think of a good way to bring that up that wouldn't sound embarrassing if I was wrong, I decided against asking about it.

The Doctor had briefly returned to the TARDIS before we departed, but when he walked out again as far as I could tell the only thing that he'd changed was that he was now wearing a ring with a large blue stone on it that seemed to be slightly too large for his finger; he occasionally had to reach over to slip it back on when the carriage passed over a particularly large bump in the road. I'd been trying to work out how to ask him about it- it seemed naggingly familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before- but fortunately someone else asked the question first.

"What is that?" Danielle asked, looking curiously at the Doctor after he'd adjusted it for the third time, the trip having so far progressed in a silence that was somehow both awkward and soothing.

"Basically, it's my wand," the Doctor explained, taking the ring off his finger and holding it out with a smile.

"Your 'wand'?" Danielle repeated.

"Well, it's my equivalent of Snow's mirrors, anyway," the Doctor clarified, as he put the ring back on. "The last time I used magic regularly, I used this ring as a focal point for my spells; considering that I learned how to use magic with this ring, I thought it best to go back to it for the current crisis."

"But… it doesn't fit…" I began, before I suddenly remembered where I'd seen the ring before now. "But you wore it when you were the old man, didn't you?"

"The 'old man'?" Danielle repeated, looking at me in confusion.

"That's… a long story, and it involves details of my life that this isn't quite the place to discuss," the Doctor said after exchanging a glance with me; this wasn't the time or the place to start discussing the Doctor's ability to regenerate with a society that may not be able to comprehend how it worked.

"Anyway," he said, sitting back in his chair with a smile as he closed his eyes. "I'm just going to take a few moments to think about those old lessons; feel free to talk amongst yourselves."

With that said, he laid his head back and fell silent, leaving Danielle and I to look uncertainly at him for a moment before I shrugged awkwardly.

"He… tends to think a lot," I said at last, stuck for a better explanation as I looked back at Danielle, keeping my voice as the two of us moved over to the other side of the carriage; it wasn't much of a gap, but if we were quiet it might be enough for the Doctor to get the silence he wanted. "He probably just wants to focus while he's thinking right now; the lessons he's talking about were a _long_ time ago for him."

"How long?" Danielle asked.

"Uh… a few centuries," I answered; regeneration was something I couldn't discuss right now, but I could talk about his lifespan without making it too complicated.

" _Centuries_?" Danielle repeated, looking at the Doctor in surprise. "He's _that_ old?"

"He's… very complicated," I answered, smiling as I looked at my friend.

"Is it anything to do with him saying that he _used_ to be an old man?" Danielle asked, looking suddenly apprehensive as she studied the Doctor. "As in, he… took another body-"

"Hold on, he doesn't _possess_ anyone!" I said, suddenly guessing what might be making Danielle so worried, my mind racing to find the best way to explain what really happened to the Doctor in a manner that she'd understand. "He just… changes his appearance when he's particularly ill or injured; it's tricky to explain, but he doesn't _steal_ someone else's body to do it, he… just transforms into a healthy body if his current one can't go on."

"Oh," Danielle said, looking at the Doctor in contemplation for a moment, before she smiled and looked back at me. "Well, I don't think anyone would come up with something that complicated if they wanted to lie…"

"Thanks… I think," I said, stuck for anything else to say to that statement; considering how little I was able to tell her, I appreciated her faith…

God, I was trying to find a good way to explain _aliens_ to _Cinderella_ ; my life was _amazing_!

"So…" Danielle asked, looking curiously at me. "If he's not human, but you're not with him because of a deal, and you're not his… lover, or anything like that… how did you end up travelling with him in the first place?"

"I was… having a bad day," I said, quickly going over the basic cover story I'd put together the previous night in the event of something like this happening while we were here; the fact that everyone already knew that there was something unusual about the Doctor and I gave me more leeway, but I wasn't sure how much anyone here would understand if I started talking about aliens. "My… lover… had left me, my closest friend wanted more from me than I was willing to give him, and I just wasn't sure what to do with my life…"

"And then he showed up?" Danielle asked, smiling in understanding as she indicated the Doctor.

"And then he showed up, saved me from my own mistakes, and invited me to travel with him for a time so that I could see what was out there," I said, nodding in agreement before I realised how that might have been interpreted. "We're not… we're only friends; he gave me a chance to get away from a life that only reminded me of how I hadn't measured up, but he's my teacher, if he's anything… intimate."

"And you've learned a lot from him?" Danielle asked.

"Well… some things, anyway," I said, shrugging awkwardly; 'teacher' wasn't exactly the best term for the Doctor's role in my life, when I thought about it, but it was the best I could think of. "Mostly he's been helping me stand on my own after… well, after everything I lost; part of the problem I had was that I'd become so caught up in my relationship that I just wasn't able to cope when it didn't work out…"

"Ah," Danielle said, smiling sympathetically at me. "And… he helped you learn how to move on?"

"Yeah…" I said, looking thoughtfully back at the Doctor, a smile slowly spreading across my face as I thought about everything I'd been through since I'd met him. "I realised when I was travelling with him that I actually didn't like what I'd been turning into during that relationship, so I've been working to move on from that… and I've learned that I can deal with more than I ever believed I could manage."

"You never know what you can do until you try," Danielle said, smiling at me in understanding. "I've been there myself; before I met Snow and Talia, I'd never imagined I'd even _have_ to fight for anything, but when I did…"

"You went beyond anything you thought you were capable of?" I finished for her, smiling in recollection of my own recent meeting with the Doctor's original self;

After we exchanged a smile of wordless understanding, silence settled over the carriage once again, during which I stared contemplatively out of the windows while Danielle studied a book she'd brought along and the Doctor rested. I occasionally glanced behind to look at the following carriage containing Talia and Snow, but otherwise I alternated between studying the view outside and looking through another of the books that Danielle had packed, until the Doctor finally sat back up with a smile.

"Thank you," he said, grinning at the two of us as though picking up a conversation that had ended only a moment ago. "Always nice to get some time out."

"You're appreciating time out?" I said, smiling sceptically at him (I suddenly hoped that he hadn't been listening to what was being said when he had 'dozed off'; we'd been quiet, and I knew from experience that he could miss things if he was focusing on something else, but it just felt suddenly embarrassing to have discussed how I felt he'd changed my life when he was right next to me).

"When we're dealing with something this potentially complicated, yes," the Doctor confirmed, before he looked over at Danielle. "Talking of complicated situations, there's something I've been meaning to ask."

"Which is?" Danielle asked politely.

"Talia and Snow," the Doctor answered. "How did you meet them?"

"Talia was assigned to keep an eye on my chambers and interrupted Charlotte's attempt to kill me," Danielle said, clearly unconcerned about the question.

"Charlotte?" the Doctor repeated curiously.

"My sister," Danielle clarified.

"Your sister tried to kill you?" I said in surprise (I knew Cinderella's stepsisters were unkind to her, but attempted murder seemed a significant step up from straightforward dislike).

"She resented the fact that I married Armand," Danielle said, shaking her head at the memory. "Their mother gave Stacia and Charlotte everything growing up, and Charlotte _still_ acted as though she'd been hard-done by when I let her and Stacia have my father's house after the wedding…"

"Some people are never satisfied with what they have," the Doctor said, looking sympathetically at Danielle, before he smiled and decided to change the subject. "So, you met Talia then, and Snow?"

"Shortly after," Danielle replied. "Talia took me to Snow's secret workshop in the palace basements while we were trying to find Armand after Charlotte escaped; I ended up accompanying them in their search, and… well, one thing led to another, and I've worked with them when I can ever since."

"How did they even end up here?" the Doctor asked. "I mean, Beatrice said that her visions brought them together, but…?"

"Oh, Snow was simple enough; after the political chaos that followed her mother's death had settled down with Lawrence being placed on the throne, Beatrice helped Snow escape and gave her a home here in Lorindar," Danielle explained. "Talia apparently made her way here on her own, hidden in a ship, but Beatrice's visions alerted her to Talia's arrival and Snow was sent to meet her."

"And once you moved in, you've worked with them when you can?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, obviously Beatrice's lessons take priority these days, but we still work together when something comes up," Danielle replied. "Just a couple of months ago, we managed to capture this renegade fairy called Rumpelstilzchen who'd been abducting children from various noble families-"

"Hold on; you captured _Rumplestiltskin_?" I repeated, not sure if I should be impressed at the accomplishment or amazed that it was real; he'd sounded powerful and mysterious enough in the tales, but we were talking about a _fairy tale_ here…

"Talking of fairies," the Doctor interjected, neatly saving me from having to explain my recognition of the name as Danielle looked quizzically at me, "that brings up another thing I'd like to discuss; if we have to enter Fairytown to look into these disappearances any further, what would we have to deal with? I mean, even if the treaty forbids them from actually attacking us, I assume some fairies still bear a few grudges for what happened in the way?"

"Well, so long as we don't accept any deals from anyone, we should be all right; we just have to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves," Danielle explained. "The only problem is that the fairies will only allow nobles through their borders; Snow and I should be all right if we can use our titles and the guard hasn't changed, and we can maybe get you two through by declaring you our guests, but Talia…"

"Let me guess; subsequent exile aside, the fairies regard her as the villain of the piece in her story because they reason someone must have angered the fairy who cursed her in the first place?" the Doctor asked.

"The guard almost didn't let us in last time because the remnants of Talia's curse suggested that she had committed some crime against the fairies," Danielle explained. "We were able to negotiate terms that allowed him to let Talia in that time, but there's no way of knowing if he's still the guard…"

"And then there's the question of whether he'd let _us_ in as well?" I asked, indicating the Doctor and me, my mind flying to the worst-case scenario.

"Oh, no worries about that," the Doctor said, smiling over at Danielle. "I happen to be a lord back where I come from; if your authority isn't enough, I think mine might be able to get us through."

"You're a lord?" Danielle asked curiously. "Of where?"

"You wouldn't have heard of it," the Doctor said, smiling slightly at the princess as he looked reflectively out of the window, lost in his memories. "My family estate was the House of Lungbarrow, on the edge of a mountain range close to a magnificent river; I would have been declared the heir, but I preferred to go travelling rather than get stuck in the rut of being in charge."

"I can understand that," Danielle said, smiling reassuringly at him. "Sometimes I wish I could spend more time with Snow and Talia than worrying about Lorindar's trade agreements and potential alliances; I wouldn't even have to worry about it if it weren't for Beatrice's illness…"

"She's sick?" I asked in surprise; Beatrice had struck me as frail, but I'd assumed that she was just old rather than ill.

"She was stabbed by a magic knife wielded by an undine over a year ago," Danielle explained, her previously cheerful expression faltering at the new topic. "We were able to save her life, but the damage inflicted on her body was too serious; she's going to die within the year."

"Oh," I said in sympathy, my mind racing to find something else we could discuss. "Uh… what are undine?"

"They can also be known as mermaids," Danielle explained.

"Mermaids?" I repeated, looking at Danielle in surprise. "A _mermaid_ stabbed your queen?"

"She was driven insane by a plan of her grandmother's; it's… complicated," Danielle explained. "Lirea was-"

"Lirea?" I repeated, quickly going over the name's sound in my mind before I looked over at the Doctor. "Is that-?"

"An anagram of 'Ariel'?" the Doctor finished for me, smiling in acknowledgement. "Correctamundo… and why do I keep using that word?"

"Ariel?" Danielle repeated, looking between us in confusion. "What's that about?"

"Just… something from back home," I said awkwardly, making a mental note to try and ask about that later; I suddenly wanted to know what could drive the _Little Mermaid_ to try and commit murder after everything she'd done to become human and save the prince she loved…

I was almost grateful when my train of thought was interrupted by something exploding in front of us. As the horses let out what even my limited experience of horses clearly identified as a panicked whinny, the carriage was jolted backwards before Danielle leaned out of the window and seemed to be looking intently at something. As the carriage seemed to be steady and immobile once again, the Doctor opened the other door and leaned out, leaving me to quickly make a decision and join him at the door.

It wasn't hard to see what had attracted the Doctor's interest; just a short distance ahead of us was a large creature, slightly taller than a man, that looked like a massive lump of boils with a single large eye at its top and a thick orange claw sticking out of its right side like a hand.

"Oh no…" the Doctor said, staring at the creature before us in horror.

"You recognise it?" Danielle asked, looking curiously at the Doctor.

"Oh yes," the Doctor said grimly. "This is one of Omega's guards."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those familiar with the classic series will know who Omega is; those who aren't will learn more about him soon.


	5. Legend of Madness

"Omega?" Danielle and I repeated simultaneously, looking at the Doctor in confusion.

"Time to explain that later," the Doctor said, his gaze still fixed on the creature even as he spoke. "Right now, I suggest a tactical withdrawal; we can discuss my history with this thing-"

Further explanation on the Doctor's part was cut short as the creature's orange claw glowed briefly and then something burst from the claw to strike the ground near us, causing an explosion that sent the horses reeling in panic. As the carriage was sent rolling backwards, I grabbed onto the nearest edge to try and steady myself, the Doctor getting to his feet with hands on either side of the carriage while Danielle seemed to concentrate for a moment. Before I had time to ask what we were going to do next, the horses spun around and ran as fast as they could away from the creature.

Looking back through the rear window, I saw that the guard-thing was following us, but it was moving at a slow rate, its bulky body only able to walk by shifting its lower parts in a manner that vaguely resembled feet. I almost relaxed- something moving at that pace couldn't be much of a threat- but then another blast struck the side of our carriage and the sudden shift as the cart fell made it clear that a wheel had been damaged. The Doctor grabbed me before I could fall out, and Danielle clearly had enough practise to retain her balance, but I was already fairly sure that we wouldn't be going any further in this cart without a new wheel.

As the three of us scrambled to get out of the cart, I saw Snow and Talia getting out of their cart and moving into position to try and confront the creature, their horses whinnying anxiously but otherwise apparently willing to stay put. As Talia assumed a combat stance, Snow muttered some words that I couldn't hear from my position, and suddenly the creature was surrounded by small things that gleamed in the sunlight and seemed to have flown away from Snow's neck. I only realised that they must be the mirrors that she had been wearing on her necklace when the mirrors created what I could only think of as a cage of light, which briefly surrounded the creature before emitting a brilliant glow that forced me to close my eyes against its brilliance.

When I felt the light in front of me fade, I opened my eyes once again, but wasn't entirely surprised to find that the creature was still there as well as our allies; things were rarely that simple when I was with the Doctor. Talia hurled a knife at the creature, but it just deflected the blade with its claw- it might walk slowly, but that claw was very quick- before it turned to 'face' Talia directly, the claw charging up once more before Danielle leapt forward, drawing the glass sword she'd been carrying since I first saw her as she lashed out.

As Danielle struck the creature with her glass sword, I wasn't sure if I should stare in shock or wince in sympathetic agony as the blade neatly sliced the creature before us in half, the top half coming apart like it was some kind of rotten vegetable. The creature let out a kind of warbling sound like nothing I had ever heard before- it didn't sound unpleasant; it was just weird- before both halves vanished, leaving only blackened grass that looked like something had been set on fire and burnt itself to nothing.

"Well," the Doctor said, breaking the stunned silence that had settled over us. "That was… efficient."

"Efficient?" Snow repeated, looking at Danielle's sword with a new sense of respect. "Try amazing; I never knew the sword could do _that_."

"Impressive bit of work, to say the least," the Doctor said, smiling as he looked at the blade in Danielle's hands before looking inquiringly at Danielle herself. "Is there anything it won't cut?"

"Me," Danielle replied, looking at the sword with an affectionate smile. "This was my mother's last gift to me, presented when I was under attack by a demon; it broke in half once when… an enemy… tried to use it against me, but otherwise we've yet to find anything that it can't penetrate."

"Really?" I said, looking at the sword with renewed respect.

I'd seen a lot in my time with the Doctor, but the idea that something made of glass could do that kind of damage…

"OK, nice as it was that we managed to stop that thing that quickly, you _do_ realise that this doesn't make sense, right?" Talia said, staring critically at the burn-mark that was all that remained of our attacker. "We're still a day or so from Fairytown; even if the person behind the disappearances dispatched this thing, why would anyone post guards this far in advance?"

"Because he knew I was here," the Doctor said, smile fading as he looked grimly at the guard's remains. "He wants me to be worried."

"He knew?" Snow repeated, looking at the Doctor in confusion. "Hold on, how do you know who's behind this?"

"The guards are very distinctive," the Doctor explained, looking apologetically at the rest of our small group. "Princess Danielle, Princess Talia, Princess… Snow, I apologise for my earlier ignorance; the foe we face is Omega, one of the wisest and oldest of my people, and unfortunately also utterly, utterly insane."

"Your people?" Talia repeated, looking sharply at the Doctor. "He's like you?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor said, looking awkwardly at Talia. "Not only is Omega far older than me, but it could be argued that he's not exactly the same species as me any more; he's undergone significant changes since he was… well, trapped in another dimension, to put it bluntly."

"Another… dimension?" Talia said, initial anger forgotten in her confusion. "How… what do you mean?"

"Think of it as the equivalent of those fairy realms I've read about where time flows differently compared to how it flows here- one hour here equals a day there, that kind of thing- except that it's a few steps above that; the concept is very complicated and isn't immediately relevant, so long as you understand that he's stuck somewhere that isn't the world you know and can only be accessed under specific complicated circumstances," the Doctor explained, smiling briefly at Talia before he turned to address us all once again. "Anyway, to answer your questions, Omega was one of the three great founders of my race, many lifetimes ago, with the other two being Rassilon and the Other."

"The who?" Snow asked.

"The Other," the Doctor said again.

"The Other what?" I asked.

"No idea; he's never been referred to as anything else," the Doctor said, smiling apologetically at me before he continued. "As I was saying, Omega was the founder responsible for creating the power source that would give my people most of their abilities- Rassilon and the Other mainly drew up plans for the society itself and the rules that would define it, but Omega inspired most of the resources that we would use after harnessing that power- but in the process of trapping that power source, Omega… essentially, he fell through a portal and became trapped in a world of anti-matter."

"Anti… matter?" Snow asked, looking at the Doctor in confusion (I didn't blame her; I was vaguely familiar with the term, but all I knew for certain was that anti-matter would make things explode if it was released in our world). "What's that?"

"Well…" the Doctor said, waving one hand in an uncertain manner before he continued speaking, "in a nutshell, 'matter' is a generic term used to describe what everything around us is made of; are you with me so far?"

"Yes…" Snow said, nodding hesitantly at the Doctor.

"Good," the Doctor said, smiling at her before he continued. "Now, _anti_ -matter is essentially the opposite of matter; I can't really explain how at this time, but its fundamental structure is so different from everything around us that, should they ever be in a position to co-exist, anti-matter could trigger a devastating explosion in our world. After Omega was trapped in the world of anti-matter, he was converted into an anti-matter state as he passed through the singularity at the heart of the portal, allowing him to learn how to shape the formerly featureless anti-matter world he found on the other side of it using nothing more than the force of his will."

"He… shaped a world from nothing?" Danielle asked, looking apprehensively at the Doctor. "By _himself_?"

"It was only possible due to the unique nature of his world and the amount of time he spent practising his control there; when I first ended up in that world it took everything I had just to create a door in the prison cell he'd trapped me in," the Doctor said, before he continued his explanation. "The creature that attacked us is one of Omega's guards, created from the raw stuff of matter, at a point when it is neither matter or anti-matter, allowing them to exist with ease in his world or our own to carry out his will."

"But… if he's created his own world, what is he doing here?" Talia asked.

"A prison where you can have anything you imagine is still fundamentally a prison," the Doctor answered grimly. "Unfortunately for Omega, since the world he'd created relied on him to maintain it, he couldn't ever leave; since everything around him only existed because Omega willed it to exist, he couldn't leave without abandoning control or the world would keep him trapped, but once he abandoned control he obviously also lost control of any potential means of departure he might have created and had to start all over."

"Catch-22 situation, huh?" I said with a smile.

"Catch what?" Talia asked.

"It's a phrase back home," I explained. "It basically refers to a situation where the most obvious way to get out of danger is impossible due to the circumstances the person finds themselves in; in this case, Omega can't escape without abandoning control, but once he abandons control he can't escape."

"Ah," Talia said, nodding thoughtfully for a moment before she smiled in understanding. "Interesting figure of speech."

"What about this 'Omega' person you were talking about?" Snow asked. "If he was stuck in this other world, how do you know about him?"

"Well, I grew up hearing stories of his accomplishments, but I learned that he still existed when he sent some of his guards to attack me during a period of my life where I was confined to a specific location and easier to trap than others of my people might have been," the Doctor explained. "Having transported me into his world, he attempted to escape by forcing me to take his place, but in the process I learned that the conditions in his world had already destroyed his body."

"His body was gone?" Snow asked. "So… he was a ghost?"

"Not quite, but essentially accurate," the Doctor replied. "He only existed any more because his will insisted that he exist, even without an actual body to sustain it, but even his power couldn't allow him to recreate his body so that it would exist outside his world."

"So… he existed because he wanted to exist?" I asked, looking at the Doctor in surprise. "That's…"

"Philosophically complicated, to say the least," the Doctor agreed, smiling at me before he continued. "Anyway, I was able to stop him on that occasion by tricking him into exposing his world to a sample of matter, which apparently destroyed him while returning me to my ship, but he eventually managed to reconstruct himself and make contact with someone in our world once again, using a unique form of energy from a rift in reality to temporarily shield his anti-matter form while he made contact with our world."

"Oh," I said, deciding that I would have to ask for more detail as the three princesses simply stared at the Doctor in silence. "So… what happened then?"

"Well," the Doctor began, "in a nutshell, he tried to create a new body for himself by using samples taken from me to turn himself into a copy of me, but his new form was inherently unstable. I was able to temporarily disperse him before he could trigger his own destruction, and while he was able to pull himself back together later, the transformation had damaged his mind so that he spent some time thinking he was _me_ and investigating murders that he was committing before I showed up to stop him."

"And… what happened after that?" Talia asked.

"The last I saw of him, he was falling back into the anti-matter universe as his body fell apart once again," the Doctor explained. "He'd reached a point where he wanted to return to the world where he had full control and safety, so he probably returned to his original situation, but I never really checked; considering the way things turned out, I just… wanted to believe it was over, you know?"

As he awkwardly trailed off, the Doctor could only shrug awkwardly at the four of us, but I could understand his reasoning; it couldn't be easy to have to confront a figure from his planet's legends, even if he recognised the necessity of it.

"But… if he was trapped in this… anti-matter world… what is he doing in Lorindar?" Danielle asked. "And why would he be involved in the disappearances?"

"Well, I can only speculate as to how he got here or why he's doing this- like I said, the last time I met him he seemed to be content to stay in the anti-matter universe- but what he's after seems fairly straightforward," the Doctor explained. "He failed to escape using other methods in the past, so now he must be intending to use magic. "

"'Use' magic?" Snow repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, according to those books you gave me, fairies are naturally _made_ of magic, correct?" the Doctor asked, Snow nodding in confirmation before the Doctor continued. "If Omega's here, his role in the disappearances makes sense; he must be trying to find some way to harness this world's magic to use for himself; his current power is great, but it's still not exactly _magic_ , after all."

"Oh," I said, guessing what the Doctor was talking about and suddenly feeling very uncomfortable at the implications. "So… you think that he's capturing fairies so that he can… _take_ their magic for himself to make a new body?"

"It's the most likely scenario, anyway," the Doctor said, looking over at the guard for a moment before he sighed. "Even if he thinks he knows what he's doing, magic introduces too many unknown variables; we _have_ to find him before something goes wrong."

"And then what?" Talia asked.

"We'll… work that out when we get there," the Doctor said, even as something in his manner suggested that this situation wasn't going to be as simple as that.

Whatever Omega had done in the past, he was still the founder of one of the Doctor's civilisation, and therefore he was also a living Time Lord.

Even if it turned out that what Omega was trying to do was dangerous… would the Doctor be able to bring himself to stop Omega's plan if it would bring another Time Lord back?


	6. Reflecting on Omega

With our enemy's identity established and a speculative idea about Omega's motives, the five of us were relatively free to rest and plan our next move. Snow had sent her mirrors out around us to deflect most casual attempts to observe our current actions via magic- according to her, anything that could get through her current spell would only do so by alerting us to their presence- so we could afford to take some time out without worrying about being caught off-guard. Danielle and Snow were resting in our remaining carriage while Talia stood on guard somewhere, leaving the Doctor and I to sit by the campfire and talk about the implications of this latest development.

"So… Omega was a big problem for you in the past?" I asked, once I was fairly sure that none of our companions could hear me; as much as I was coming to trust the three of them, some things were probably just too complicated for their frame of reference.

"Let me put it this way; the first time I fought him, it took three of me to stop him," the Doctor replied, smiling slightly at the surprised look on my face before he continued. "He's never really operated on a large scale, but his ambitions and power potential make him exceptionally dangerous; he just never got the chance to act on a broader scale."

"So… he's a god-like being… who's never _acted_ as one?" I asked, surprised at that news. "I mean, he never actually tried to _be_ a god in our world?"

"Mainly because he never really got around to it; his focus was always on escaping his current environment rather than asserting his power here," the Doctor said. "Really, his reputation among my people was what made him particularly dangerous; his second attempt to escape only happened because he was able to make contact with someone on Gallifrey who thought that getting Omega back was all that mattered."

"You didn't agree?" I asked.

"Respect for a past act can only excuse someone's present sins up to a point, no matter how significant it was," the Doctor explained. "As I told Omega when I first met him, I had respected him as our greatest hero for all my life before I knew that he'd survived, and I tried to assure him that most of my actions against him when he returned in our second encounter were based around my ignorance of his identity… but, regardless of my respect for what he achieved, I just cannot accept his attempts to return here if he seeks to claim power simply because of what he once was."

"That… sounds fair," I said, nodding in understanding. "I mean, creating a power source for an entire civilisation doesn't exactly qualify you to rule it…"

"To say the least," the Doctor said solemnly, shaking his head in a pitying manner. "He was worth respecting in the past, but now… he's just insane."

"And even if he deserved that kind of power… freedom to do what one man allows isn't freedom?" I asked, remembering something I'd read once that sounded appropriate in this situation.

"Precisely," the Doctor said. "He only ever talked about wanting his freedom the first time I met him, but the second time I encountered him he was determined to take control of Gallifrey's central computer systems to further his own agenda. Even in a best-case scenario, he'd probably have demanded and received total control of Gallifrey if he'd returned home- everyone was certainly willing enough to hand over to Rassilon when the Time War started- but even if we gave him that power, it would have gone to his head sooner or later."

"Power corrupts?" I said, looking at him in surprise; I understood the Doctor's point, but I couldn't believe he was discussing it as though it was an inevitable fact. "But surely-"

"The temptation is too great, Bella," the Doctor said firmly. "I've twice held the most powerful object in the known universe in my hands and discarded it to prevent myself being tempted, and I once fought an entity whose primary goal to give everyone their perfect worlds would have caused significant side-effects for the universe as a whole beyond the moral consequences; even the best intentions can be corrupted."

I thought about trying to assure the Doctor that I didn't believe he'd go that far, but when I paused to think about it, I had to admit that he had a good point; could _anybody_ be trusted with the kind of power he was talking about?

This was a far bigger question than I'd ever expected to find myself thinking about as a real possibility, but the more I considered it, the more I understood the Doctor's point. I liked to think of myself as a good person, but I couldn't be sure how I'd cope if I had the power to do anything I wanted; I could start out doing the right thing and end up killing people just because I didn't like them…

"It's not easy, is it?" I said at last, looking back at my friend.

"No, it's not," the Doctor agreed. "It's nice to think that we wouldn't be tempted, but there's no way to be sure, and there's always the possibility of what could happen in the future; today's enemy could be tomorrow's salvation, the devastating war I stop now could be the catalyst to prevent further such wars ever happening again…"

His voice trailed off, but I could still understand what he was thinking about.

"And you don't think Omega's a good choice to have that kind of power?" I asked.

"To say the least," the Doctor explained, looking at me with a tense uncertainty that reminded me of when we'd discussed the Time War on the _Wayfarer_. ""At the heart of it all, what Omega wants more than anything is to be free, but he's still made it clear that he'll pursue any means to achieve that goal. He's often talked about being willing to cause destruction, and he attempted to subvert Gallifrey's computer networks and bring them under his control during our last encounter, but even if he's never actually done it, I can't forget that the universe was only saved because I stopped him, not because he decided against it."

"Talking of Gallifrey…" I said, uncomfortable about bringing this up but knowing that it had to be addressed. "I mean, he's a Time Lord…"

"If you're worried that his position will make me reluctant to fight him, don't," the Doctor said firmly. "I've fought Omega before, and I've fought Rassilon on other occasions; as much as I might not want to be alone, I'm not going to condemn this world to Omega just because I don't want to be alone. If he was just trying to call for help, I might sympathise, but if he's killing people to be free…"

The Doctor shook his head grimly. "Regardless of my sympathy for him, I can't let him continue; as a Time Lord, his actions are my responsibility, which means I have to ensure that he remains where he belongs."

"That's… something else I was wondering about," I said, looking curiously at him. "From what you told us about Omega… well, if he wanted to go back to the anti-matter universe the last time you saw him, why would he be trying to come back here?"

"Who knows?" the Doctor said, shrugging uncertainly. "His time in isolation drove Omega mad, so it's hard to know how he's thinking any more; he probably thinks I'll want to help him as he's a Time Lord, and we know he's wrong about _that_ …"

He shook his head, sighing in frustration for a moment before he turned away. "My respect for Omega as a hero ended the day he tried to drain Gallifrey's power and threaten the universe just to escape his own prison; there's nothing he could offer me in exchange for my aid that I would want."

I wondered if the Doctor was lying on some level, but I also decided that I wasn't going to over-analyse the situation any more than I had to; things right now were complicated enough without me starting to doubt his commitment.

"Excuse me," the Doctor said, suddenly standing up. "I… need to think."

With nothing else to be said to that statement, I simply nodded briefly at him as he walked away, leaving me to turn my attention back to the fire and think about her recent talk.

We were about to go up against one of the most powerful individuals that the Doctor had ever encountered, aided only by a trio of fairy-tale characters in a world of magic, and we didn't even know why our enemy was doing this…

"Your friend is an interesting man."

"Talia?" I said, looking around to see the dark-skinned princess standing behind me, a slight smile on her face as she looked at me. "How long-?"

"Long enough," Talia said, as she moved to sit down beside me. "You believe his story?"

"Well… let's just say I've seen him do enough over our time together to recognise that doubting him wouldn't be a smart thing," I said, hoping that she wouldn't ask me to explain too much of what the Doctor had told me; apart from anything else, there were parts of it I still didn't understand. "I know he can seem eccentric, but trust me, he'll do everything he can to protect Lorindar."

"I believe that," Talia said, sighing as she looked after the Doctor, who had paused on the edge of our small camp to stare up at the sky. "I just have to wonder if that will be enough if this Omega's as powerful as he says…"

I wasn't sure what I could say to that question without making this talk more complicated, so I settled for placing a reassuring hand on Talia's shoulder. For a moment, she jumped slightly as I made contact, but seemed to relax as she identified me as the source of the moment, looking over at me with a brief smile

"Get some rest," she said at last, still smiling slightly at me as she stood up. "We can start looking for this 'Omega' person in the morning."

I took Talia's advice and lay down in the front of the fire- I'd never really thought about camping, despite the Cullens' usual cover for their hunts, but now that I had the chance to do this I could understand the appeal- trying to calm my thoughts as I looked over at where the Doctor was staring thoughtfully up at the sky from his position beside the carriage.

I might be in an incredible place facing potentially unbeatable odds, but I was still with the Doctor; that would _have_ to be enough…


	7. Outside the Cave

The following morning found us approaching the large crack in the ground that the three princesses had identified as Malindar's Chasm, apparently created when a prominent human sorcerer had threatened to destroy Lorindar during a war with the fairies long ago. According to Snow, we were now close enough to Fairytown to at least potentially attract interest from the fairies without being so close as to attract the magical attention of anyone particularly powerful, based on the search criteria that the Doctor had provided for us when everyone woke up this morning; if Omega was anywhere, he'd be here.

"You're sure about this?" Talia asked, studying our surroundings with a critical expression. "We haven't seen any more of those guards…"

"Considering what Omega's been through before now, his ability to create those things is most likely limited; he's probably saving those for when he needs them," the Doctor put in as he looked over at Talia. "He had centuries to establish his control of the anti-matter universe before he dispatched those things anywhere, and I basically destroyed his world during our first encounter; he's had a few centuries to rebuild since then, but it still took him millennia to reach that point."

"And he's not used to doing it this way, right?" I asked. "Using magic, I mean."

"Bingo," the Doctor said, smiling over at me before critically shaking his head at himself. "Anyway, he'd have to be outside Fairytown if he wanted to avoid attracting the direct attention of the king and queen, and then there's that Duchess you mentioned to consider. He's a definite threat, but right now he's just gathering his strength for his main assault; he wouldn't want to risk provoking a confrontation if he wasn't sure of the outcome."

"Gathering strength?" Snow repeated, looking curiously at the Doctor. "So… just to be sure we're all on the same page here, is Omega likely to have much magic of his own?"

"Mmmm… not really," the Doctor replied after a moment's contemplation, a thoughtful expression on his face suggesting that he was taking more care to pick his words right now. "Unlike me, he never really had much training in magic before- he was never in a position where he'd need it- so while he may have spent some time harnessing raw power if my theories are correct, he won't really know how to use it unless someone's been teaching him."

"And if fairies are disappearing in the numbers that Arlorran implies they have been, I think we can safely assume that there aren't any teachers available for him," Snow said. "They wouldn't let themselves be trapped like that."

"You're sure?" I asked, looking curiously at Snow. "I mean, it's not like humans always get along with each other either…"

"It's the same reason why the Duchess couldn't be behind the disappearances; there's only so much even the most skilled magic-user can do against superior numbers," Snow explained. "A fairy might be forced to give Omega some lessons in a few spells if he harnessed enough magic to try and perform them, but they'd never stick around long enough to give him a complete crash course in magic unless he gave them something in return; assuming you're correct about this Omega's abilities, he must be abducting the fairies and getting them to teach him some key spells before he… kills them."

"And I can't think of anything he'd have to offer that someone here would want, so either they'd escape eventually or he'd have to kill them…" the Doctor noted, nodding reflectively for a moment before he re-focused his attention on Snow. "Just to be sure, you've placed a lot of emphasise on _fairies_ giving Omega lessons; I assume that means that any other type of sorcerer in this vicinity would soon be noticed?"

"Unless they were well-protected, yes," Snow said. "My mother was able to conceal her presence from me when she was here, but that was with the additional assistance of the Duchess, and she wasn't actively harming any fairies anyway; fairies would take it more personally if their own kind were in danger."

"But… why does Omega _need_ to be outside Fairytown?" I asked, as the thought suddenly came to me. "Couldn't he use that… nobility clause thing we were thinking of using? I mean, if he's-"

"He's not," the Doctor interrupted.

"Not what?" Talia asked.

"Not a lord," the Doctor said. "Omega was widely regarded as one of the greatest of my race, but when he was lost he was only a common man with brilliant ideas; most of his titles were conferred posthumously rather than when he was known to be alive, and he's never officially returned to Gallifrey to claim them."

"Ah, technicalities," Snow said, smiling warmly at the Doctor. "You've got to love them."

"When they're in our favour," Talia noted grimly.

"So… can we just see about finding where we're going here?" I asked, looking between the assorted princesses and the Doctor. "I mean, even if Omega _is_ in this chasm, how do we get him out? I know you're all good at what you do, but I'm not that comfortable facing someone this powerful on his home ground, no matter how weak he might be…"

"Which is why I'll be taking a look first," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver with a smile as he glanced over the edge of the cliff.

"You are?" Snow asked. "Care to explain why?"

"We need to know what Omega's working with in there so that we can have some kind of plan," the Doctor explained, studying the chasm below us in a thoughtful manner before he nodded. "There are a few promising-looking caves down there, anyway; once we've identified which one of those is his hiding-place, we can focus on finding out how he got here and forcing him back; I'd rather not kill him unless we have to, even assuming it's possible to do so…"

"Because of the fact that he may be made of anti-matter?" I asked, glad that I could make a contribution to the discussion once again.

"That's a problem?" Danielle asked.

"You remember how the Doctor told you yesterday that anti-matter is the opposite of the matter around us?" I asked her (I couldn't believe that I was basically giving _Cinderella_ a science lesson!).

"Oh, right; if the two should meet they'll… explode, right?" Danielle asked, nodding in recollection.

"Precisely," the Doctor said, nodding at the two of us in approval. "Assuming he's in a similar shape to the last time he tried to escape the anti-matter world, Omega must be shielding himself somehow; we don't want to accidentally damage the equipment he's using to do that while we're trying to stop him. Now then, I'll get down there and-"

"No," Talia interjected, looking firmly at the Doctor.

"Pardon?" the Doctor said, looking at her in surprise.

"If we're dealing with something as dangerous as you're implying, we don't want him to know we're here until we're ready to fight him," Talia said grimly. "He knows you, but I've never met him before; give me that… thing… and _I'll_ take a look at the cave."

"You'll go?" Danielle repeated, looking at Talia in surprise. "But you don't know how to work that… thing?"

"Even if I can't figure out what it does, I'm sure that I can take a look with it and then the Doctor can study it to his heart's content when I get back," Talia pointed out, taking the screwdriver from the Doctor as she spoke. "If we're trying to get in and out without being detected, I think I'm better-qualified to try that than he is; I _am_ fully aware of what my body's doing, after all."

"Good point," the Doctor admitted after a moment's thought, walking over to hold the screwdriver along with Talia as his fingers moved to reset the relevant controls. "Once you get inside that cave, keep going until you find something or can't go any further without attracting attention, and then use the screwdriver to analyse it; I'll be able to go over everything when you get back."

"And the reason she can't just look at the information herself is…?" Snow asked curiously.

"Well… part of this tool's power lies in the fact that it's linked to my mind so that I can directly process everything it finds," the Doctor explained, as he held up the screwdriver (I wondered briefly if he was lying about that, but concluded that it didn't matter; even if Talia could look at whatever the screwdriver found, she probably wouldn't be able to understand it). "If Talia uses it to analyse everything in that cave, I can process what she finds when I get it back, but as it stands she just isn't… well, she doesn't have the right senses to process it."

"Like when we became undine and could sense the water more easily, right?" Snow asked, smiling at the Doctor.

"Well… that's probably a good analogy, so yes," the Doctor said, nodding at Snow before looking back at Talia. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Talia said, before she turned and began to climb down the side of the chasm, moving with an ease about her manner that was almost vampire-like in its grace. The four of us initially leant over the side to watch her descend, but as she passed the point where light from above could easily reach the bottom of the chasm, I decided to look away; heights where I couldn't see the bottom brought back bad memories of the state I'd been in before I met the Doctor.

As Talia vanished from view, the Doctor, Danielle and Snow moved away to sit around me, the four of us waiting in silence for a time until the Doctor struck up a conversation to discuss some of the other details of this word's history. I was pleased to learn that at least the story of Jack the Giant-Killer had been accurate enough- as well as the explanation that the giant had stolen his money from the people for centuries; at least Jack hadn't just robbed the giant for eating people- and hearing more about Danielle and Snow's histories was fascinating in a strange way, as I found myself enjoying tales I'd long grown out of back on Earth, appreciating my new perspective on them now that I knew that everything I was learning about was _real_ …

I wasn't sure how long we'd spent talking about our respective histories- even allowing for his inability to discuss aliens, the Doctor had some interesting stories to tell the princesses in return about some of his own experiences- but eventually the conversation ended as Talia climbed back up from the chasm, looking between us all with a slight smile.

"Tricky, but do-able," she said, smiling slightly at the Doctor. "I have to give this 'Omega' credit; for a person with no magic, he created some interesting natural defences."

"He started out with virtually nothing; he's used to working from the ground up," the Doctor said, taking the screwdriver back from Talia with a smile before starting in surprise as Talia also handed him a piece of parchment with something drawn on it. I was only able to get a brief glance at the picture before the Doctor started to study it intently, but I quickly realised that it was an image that looked very much like what I'd imagined the interior of the cave would look like, filled with all kinds of high-tech-looking equipment that seemed even more out of place in this world than it would have been in any of the other occasions I'd visited with the Doctor, mixed in with some cages holding what I assumed were fairies.

"You can draw?" Danielle said, looking between Talia and the picture in surprise.

"Perfect muscle memory and a clear awareness of my surroundings; it gives me a very steady hand when making sketches," Talia explained, shrugging dismissively as the Doctor thoughtfully studied the sketch and the screwdriver. "I'm not very good if you want me to be creative, but I can copy something down quickly enough."

"Very nice work," the Doctor said, the paper in one hand as he held the screwdriver to his ear with the other. "Looks like it's all what I was expecting, which is something; the cages seem straightforward enough- a few things the sonic can't quite place, but magic's always been tricky for it to understand- and there are a few samples of quad radiation…"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Basically, a substance that should shield anti-matter from the matter around us," the Doctor explained. "It's tricky to control normally, but from what Talia sketched here, it looks like he's using a combination of magic and science to contain the anti-matter while he's working on transferring his essence into a magical form… which is where _this_ comes in…"

"That?" I said, looking in confusion at the device the Doctor had indicated, which reminded me of a washing machine on its back with the glass sticking out. "What is it?"

"Molecular disintegration analyser," the Doctor said coldly.

"What?" I said, staring at the Doctor in horror; I might not recognise the device, but the terms the Doctor had just mentioned made its purpose disturbingly clear. "Who… why would _anyone_ make something like _that_?"

"Unfortunately, a few people come up with it at various points on various worlds," the Doctor said grimly. "It's not the most thorough way to analyse particularly unique specimens, but it is remarkably efficient, and even the best species produce the occasional… aberration… who prefer to break something new down rather than keep it alive for later."

"Sorry, but I think we missed something here; what's so bad about this… thing?" Danielle asked, looking at the Doctor and I in confusion.

"Essentially, it studies living things," the Doctor explained as he looked back at Danielle, his tone clearly conveying his contempt for anyone who would use the device he was describing. "However, it 'studies' them by breaking them down to their smallest possible components and then taking a very close look at the pieces; any fairies that Omega's managed to capture since he came here are certainly dead, unless there's something about their biology that allows them to survive that kind of treatment."

"N… no…" Danielle said, shaking her head in horror as she took in what the Doctor had just told us. "Who would…?"

"Like I said, some ideas are so terrible that it takes the most twisted minds to conceive of them, but there are few things more powerful than a truly bad idea that occurs to the right mind," the Doctor said solemnly, before he turned back to Talia. "Anyway, his captives aside, you didn't see anything to suggest that he has additional guards or defences?"

"Not a thing," Talia said, shaking her head firmly.

"Good to know," the Doctor said, smiling gratefully at her before turning his attention back to the sketch. "All right, then; since Omega knows I'm here, but _doesn't_ know what I know about magic, here's the plan…"


	8. Confronting the Omega

As we clambered down the cave towards Omega's fortress, I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this; no matter how often I told myself that I was travelling with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White, it just never seemed to sink in, even before I thought about what we were doing…

I supposed that I should just stop thinking that I understood how the world worked and accept everything I found as it was; ever since I'd witnessed Edward saving me from the car, I should have just accepted that the world was far from what I'd been brought up to believe and promise myself not to be surprised by anything else I might learn. I might have had to go through significant leaps of faith to accommodate everything I'd learned since meeting the Doctor, but he'd managed to teach me so many fascinating secrets that it was easy to cope with some of the shocks I'd been presented with since then. Even now, as we climbed down the side of a cliff to face a megalomaniac who was a legendary figure among even the Doctor's people, I was able to focus more on the fact that I was travelling with fairy-tale characters I would never have managed to meet before rather than worrying about what we were up against.

Even the climb down the cliff wasn't as worrying as it would have been before I joined the Doctor. I wasn't sure if it was his simple confidence in me or something extra in that 'universal vaccine' he'd given me when I started travelling with him to protect me from infections, but I just felt so much more confident now than I ever would have felt before; even in such a precarious position, my past clumsiness seemed to be just that…

"We're here," Talia said from further down, prompting me to take a brief glance downwards and accelerate my progress so that I could join the three princesses and the Doctor. Standing at the mouth of the cave, it didn't seem to be anything more interesting than a gap in the rock, but a glow of light coming from further inside made it clear that there was something else in there.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't notice me before, but he'll probably hear us now whatever we do," Talia said, indicating the rough path before us; one person could probably cross it in silence if they knew what they were doing, but all five of us would never manage it. "If he's as powerful as the Doctor seems to think he can be, we need to try and catch him off-guard; the second we get a chance, we need to hit him hard before everything goes to Hell-"

"Once I've had a chance to talk to him," the Doctor said.

"Talk to him?" Danielle repeated, looking at my friend in surprise. "After everything you've told us about him-?"

"He's still one of my people," the Doctor said solemnly. "That makes him my responsibility."

The three princesses looked awkwardly at each other for a moment at that statement, but finally Danielle nodded in confirmation of the Doctor's statement.

"All right," she said solemnly. "You can talk to him first… just so long as you know we're ready to stop him."

"Of course," the Doctor confirmed, smiling gratefully at Danielle before he turned his attention back to the cave ahead of us, setting off for the light at the end (I _really_ wished I hadn't thought of that analogy). As we approached the light, it soon became clear that we were approaching the area that Talia had sketched for us earlier, but seeing it in real life made it far more intense; even without any captive fairies immediately visible, it was as though the machines here all practically _radiated_ menace as they waited for the chance to perform their twisted functions, breaking down living beings to benefit their sick master…

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind then a figure stepped out from behind one of the larger machines, and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. The new arrival was dressed in long dark robes with gold 'trim' around the edges, and had a thick head of blond hair that hung down around its forehead, but the skin was a sickly green that I could only compare to a toad's, and there were deep shadows around the eyes that added to the face's skull-like appearance.

"Doctor…" he said, his voice sounding hoarse and withered as he looked at my friend.

"Hello, Omega," the Doctor said, nodding grimly at the other man. "I see you still look like me."

"You?" Talia said, looking between Omega and the Doctor in confusion. "He's nothing like-"

"The _old_ me," the Doctor clarified, shaking his head slightly. "Of course, it looks like the degeneration's struck again; I take it your period of stability when we last met didn't last?"

"It did not, Doctor," Omega practically spat, looking contemptuously at the other Time Lord. "The convertor gun forced me back into a stable form once I managed to bring myself back together in your world, as you are _fully_ aware, but once I had returned to my anti-matter realm, my body soon began to decay as I established my presence once more. I was able to protect myself from the worst of the damage with the mask I used before, but it is only a matter of time before I am once again in the condition I faced when we met…"

"Back up a minute; what do you mean, he looks like the _old_ you?" Snow interjected, looking between Omega and the Doctor in confusion. "Even if you gave him better skin, he _still_ doesn't look like you!"

"Not in this body, no; I looked like that- with better skin, among other things- a few lifetimes ago," the Doctor explained. "As Bella will confirm, my people have the ability to… recreate our bodies when faced with imminent death; I've done it quite a few times by now. Omega's current appearance is a result of his last attempt to escape his prison by creating a copy of my old body that he could use in place of his own; it's flawed, but it lets him remain active here."

"So… because he didn't have his _own_ body, he _copied_ yours?" Snow said, looking thoughtfully at Omega. "I never even imagined anyone could _do_ something like that…"

"You could make an argument that he didn't," the Doctor explained. "The process was inherently unstable; he began to decay shortly after the transfer was completed-"

"Because _you_ interrupted it, Doctor-!" Omega began.

"Because _you_ were going to subvert the Matrix and take complete control of our systems; did you really expect Gallifrey to just lie down and let that happen?" the Doctor countered. "I mean, maybe _some_ of that was because we didn't know who was doing all that, but you can't have seriously expected to just come back after millennia away and expect to be put in charge because you did one thing long ago; it doesn't _work_ that way!"

I noticed Talia tense slightly off to the side, as though she didn't entirely agree with something that the Doctor had said, but I decided not to worry about that; this was hardly the time to try and talk with her about anything anyway, so long as she didn't try to attack the Doctor.

"It was my _right_ to rule, Doctor!" Omega said, glaring at my friend. "I created the Gallifrey you knew-!"

"So why are you doing this _now_?" the Doctor interrupted, his words assuming that harsh tone I'd come to recognise from when he had to think about what he'd had to do to Gallifrey. "Even if you've changed your mind about wanting to stay in the anti-matter universe, we both know that Gallifrey's gone; there's nothing for you here any more!"

"Oh, but there is," Omega said, smirking at the Doctor in satisfaction as he raised one hand, a fireball appearing in his palm as he studied my friend's reaction. "For one, as you can see, I am close to mastering what I seek…"

"The power of this world's magic?" the Doctor asked, shaking his head as he looked at the fireball. "Impressive stuff, I'm sure, but you're not a Carrionite, Omega; whatever you've done to yourself, you don't have the ability to channel Odic energy back home-"

"You understand so little of this world, Doctor," Omega said, shaking his head as he smirked at the other Time Lord. "Using the fairies I have captured as my teachers and my source of power, I have mastered the secrets of this world's magic and imbued myself with its energies. I am not merely another one of this world's magicians; in many ways, I have made this world's magic part of myself, in the same way that the anti-matter universe was once an extension of my will…"

"And what do you intend to do with that power?" Danielle asked, her stance firm as she tightened her grip on her sword; whether or not Omega knew what that weapon could do, based on how it had cut through his guards, it should be able to do something to him.

"What else?" Omega said, smirking as he looked at the Doctor. "Once my control over the power is certain, I will return to our universe, free of the tedium of infinite power without putting myself at risk by completely depriving myself of the protection offered by that power, and then… well, the possibilities are endless-"

"Endlessly dangerous; do you really think it's that simple?" the Doctor asked, looking at his former hero with contempt. "Not only have you been killing innocent creatures to take that power, but the first thing you did with your new body when you arrived in our universe the last time was kill someone just to take his clothes! Do you _really_ think that you have the right to go back-?"

"And you believe that _you_ have the right to question _me_?" Omega countered. "You have destroyed entire races-!"

"The time you're thinking of was a tragic accident that I committed in haste and always regretted afterwards, and every other time I was in a situation where it was them or countless innocents; you can't say the same for your crime," the Doctor said, glaring at Omega. "Besides, I've never sought power, so that's not relevant-"

"And _my_ past is not relevant either, Doctor!" Omega interrupted. "I have learned from what I have done-"

"You once talked about destroying the universe because it would make an interesting spectacle, Omega; I'm not willing to put our future in the hands of someone who thought like _that_ , even if you _weren't_ killing people just to ensure your own security," the Doctor said firmly, shifting to a combat stance as he reached into his pocket. "Besides, I'm willing to bet that you're not at your peak yet- you've never been one to hang around when you didn't have to be somewhere for some reason- which means that if I just do _this_ -!"

Before anyone could react, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and held it above his head, the device emitting a high-pitched whistling shriek as the princesses and I pressed our hands to our ears. Omega and the Doctor didn't seem to be as bothered by the noise as we were, but the reason for the Doctor's actions suddenly became clear as the various equipment around us suddenly began to emit sparks before whole panels exploded, leaving the six of us standing amid smoking panels that were almost certainly in no state to be used right now.

"I had to deal with an odic energy-form a couple of lives back, Omega; the magic here isn't quite the same, but I was able to adjust the screwdriver software to compensate for its presence," the Doctor explained, casually tossing the small device into the air before putting it back in his pocket. "So, with your equipment shorted out, that's your efforts cut-"

Roaring in rage, Omega lashed out with one hand in a broad, sweeping gesture, knocking the Doctor into a nearby device before the rest of us could react (I was relieved to see the princesses automatically move into an offensive stance; they might not know the Doctor as well as I do, but even if his words raised some questions, they at least seemed willing to accept that Omega was the real problem right now).

"My power may not be permanent yet, Doctor, but I retain enough for _this_!" the ancient Gallifreyian roared, holding out his other hand and waving it in a 'come here' gesture that almost instantly summoned a new wave of 'gel-guards' into his presence. "And you shall _pay_ for trying to defy my destiny!"

As soon as the first creature had emerged, Danielle drew her sword and charged forward, lashing out with a powerful blow that eliminated the nearest guard, Snow taking hold of her choker and beginning to chant further spells under her breath while Talia drew her knives and the Doctor scrambling back to his feet as he brandished the sonic screwdriver and his ring-wearing hand in what was probably meant to be a threatening manner while trying to move away from the fighting.

"Bella!" Talia suddenly called to me just as I was trying to find a safe place to hide from the imminent fight, throwing me a long cloak of what looked like wolfskin with some kind of red inner lining. "Put that on!"

I didn't have time to ask what the cloak could do us; in the world which created Earth's fairy-tales, it was probably best to take everything as it came and hope for the best. Shrugging the cloak on, I was suddenly struck by the sensation that it was tightening around me, and I wondered for a moment if Talia was trying to trigger some kind of sacrifice ritual as I felt my bones shifting inside me, but then I found myself on the ground, my hands now paws and my nose stretched out in front of my face, and I realised what had happened.

I might not be close to any kind of reflective surface, but I was suddenly sure that I was now some kind of wolf… and even if I obviously wasn't as large as Jake and his pack were, I also knew with the same cold certainty that I was now far more powerful than I'd been as a human, which meant that I could really _do_ something now…

Without even thinking about it, I lunged for the nearest gel-guard, my teeth sinking into its hide; I was suddenly thrown back with a powerful jolt, as though someone had shoved an electric wire in my mouth, but I soon shook that sensation off as I focused on my target, satisfied to see the gel-guard staggering away with a distinctive hole in its side, its body collapsing down as I watched.

"What did you give her?" I heard the Doctor ask, anxiety just detectable in his voice as I positioned myself in front of the three princesses, my friend at the back of the group, growling at the remaining guards as they gathered protectively around Omega.

"It belonged to Roudette; I… inherited it after she died last month," Talia explained; I felt the urge to attack as the guards took up what even my limited combat experience recognised as a defensive formation, but I fought it down to listen and learn more about whatever had just happened to me. "It transforms the wearer into a powerful wolf with natural instincts for combat; considering Bella's lack of experience and the numbers against us, I thought it could give her a useful edge."

"Ah," the Doctor said, his neutral tone giving away nothing about his thoughts on the fact that someone had just basically turned me into a weapon. "And who was Roudette?"

"You'd probably know her better as the Lady of the Red Hood."

"Little Red Riding Hood?" the Doctor repeated; I didn't need to see my friend to know that he was looking between Talia and I with an ever-broadening smile. "You have _Little Red Riding Hood's_ cloak?"

"She wasn't exactly 'little' when she died-" Snow began.

"ENOUGH!" Omega yelled, thrusting one hand forward in a gesture that sent all five of us flying backwards, forcing me to spin in the air to land back on my feet as the Doctor and the princesses were sent sprawling to the ground.

Getting quickly to my feet, I noticed that the others seemed to be taking longer to recover from the attack, but instincts took over once again as I charged towards Omega, who was staring at me in shock for so long that I was able to leap onto him before he could launch another assault. Before I even realised I'd done it, I had bitten down and torn his hand off at the wrist, the taste of blood inflaming the wolf's thirst as I continued to slash and tear at him with my claws, exposing further mottled green skin and a dark substance that could have been blood if it weren't for the consistency even if the taste was the same.

If I'd been thinking rationally, my ferocity would have terrified me, but the whole point of my current state was that I _wasn't_ thinking rationally; all I could think of was the desire to rip, tear, _kill_ -

Something struck me in the chest with such force that I would have compared it to being hit by a vampire, except that this blow just winded me without cracking any ribs even if it sent me flying backwards.

I might be a mystically-enhanced wolf now, but it was clear that we were going to need more than this if we were going to stop Omega…

As Talia leapt over me to charge at the gel-guards once again, this time holding what looked like Danielle's sword, I decided to focus on what I could control right now; after so long being stuck as the helpless victim relying on everyone else to protect me, I had a chance to fight, and I was going to enjoy it. Diving back into battle alongside Talia, I slashed out at the gel-guards around me every chance I got, each blow knocking one of the strange blob-things off-balance and into a position where I could bite at it.

The creatures' numbers were obviously far larger than they'd appeared at first, and they seemed to be learning some kind of tactics as the fight went on- they weren't moving faster, but they were able to evade Talia's use of Danielle's blade, and they were taking care to shoot at me in particular- but their focus on us still made them relatively easy to fight; my wolf-body instinctively knew what to do, and Talia's skills at hand-to-hand were just incredible, while the guards didn't seem to know what to do when faced with an enemy that could actually hurt them. I heard Omega yelling from behind them, but there were too many guards around me to get to him; the cave was just too cramped…

I wasn't sure how I'd been fighting before the scent of blood from behind prompted me to spin anxiously around, but all I saw when I looked in that direction was Danielle, Snow and the Doctor, with Snow's hands bleeding but the sorceress apparently unharmed and no sign of another enemy. I had just started to wonder what she was doing when the Doctor pulled his shirt open- jacket and tie already discarded to one side- take what looked like one of Talia's knives, and stab himself in the right side of his chest.


	9. The Princesses and the Time Lords

I was so caught up in staring in horror at what the Doctor had just done to himself that I was struck in the back by a gel-guard's blast before I realised it was there, the attack knocking me to the ground once again. Momentarily dazed, I tried to get back to my feet and continue the fight, but the sudden sight of the Doctor pulling Snow down to him to give her what I could only regard as a passionate kiss left me feeling even more confused.

As she stepped back from the Doctor, Snow raised her hands and began to chant, but I wasn't able to focus on the words as I was forced to turn back to the guards around us. With Talia's blades and my teeth, we were able to inflict some damage on their forces, but I could already tell that it wouldn't be enough; the gel-guards just didn't have anything that we could injure that would put them down for good. Short of tearing them to pieces, I was lost for what I could actually do to stop these things, and unless Talia's blades had the same kind of properties as Danielle's sword-

I was distracted from my grim thoughts when I suddenly felt something rush over me, the sensation causing my new fur to stand on end as I felt like my entire body had acquired a sudden case of pins and needles, and even made the gel-guards pause in what I could only think of as confusion. As I stared around the room in confusion, crude limbs that seemed to be made of light emerged from the glowing tubes in the cave's ceiling, eventually revealing a squat male figure with vague shadows the closest he had to discernible features, even with my strange wolf-vision.

I barely had time to wonder what this figure was before another one emerged from a burning console that had been damaged by an earlier blast, retaining the yellow fire of the blaze and blue flickers around his limbs. Water emerged from the ceiling to manifest as a feminine form with a small waterfall in place of hair, the sound of water rippling clear whenever it moved, before Snow's shadow parted from her to form a dark counterpart of the first figure I'd seen.

"No…" Omega said, shaking his head in horror as the ground beneath us suddenly fractured and a figure made of green stone emerged from the resulting pit, the stone woman moving with an easy grace and her body shining so brightly that I could practically see the room reflected in it. "No… this is _impossible_!"

"No," Snow said, a strange breeze brushed over my fur as I stood in the middle of the room, the gel-guards actually shuffling backwards as the princess glared at our foe. "This is my greatest weapon."

I didn't have time to wonder what she meant by that before the breeze suddenly became so strong that it literally blew Omega off his feet, the wind catching his robes and knocking him off-balance. As he staggered backwards, caught in the unexpected updraft, the fiery figure raised one hand and an intense burst of flame struck the being that had once been the founder of the Doctor's civilisation, singing the robes and burning his skin. The wolf in me instinctively backed off from the flames, leaving me wishing that I could still hold my nose when the scent reached my nostrils; I wasn't sure if it was the wolf's dislike of cooked food or my own instincts, but that scent was making me feel ill…

The shadowy figure suddenly swarmed over Omega, leaving parts of him in darkness before drawing back to reveal tattered clothing with black blood coming from his mottled skin; it was as though the shadows were trying to eat him somehow. Roaring in rage, Omega hurled some kind of energy-burst from his hand that threw the shadow-creature back, but I suddenly realised that a tunnel was being dug in the ceiling above us.

I barely had time to wonder what was going on before a powerful blast of water from underneath him practically hurled Omega up through the tunnel, the power of the blast putting me in mind of Niagara Falls in reverse. As the remaining gel-guards turned towards us, the Doctor raised his right hand and drew some kind of glowing sigil in the air with the blue stone on his ring, resulting in some kind of blue barrier appearing between us and our enemies.

"You can create wards?" Snow asked, looking at the Doctor in surprise as the gel-guards began to hammer against the barrier.

"Natural energies… easier to tap… like this…" the Doctor gasped, reaching out with his ringless hand towards Snow while adjusting his other arm so that it was pressing against the blade in his chest for some reason. "Still… little help?"

Looking confused but accepting, Snow took the Doctor's hand as he reached out with his ring once again, waving his hand in a circular pattern as he muttered under his breath. For a moment, the Doctor and Snow seemed to glow a brilliant gold, and then the five of us were standing on a grassy field with a large hole in the ground and Omega standing up nearby, dripping wet and glaring over at us.

"Did we just… teleport upwards?" Talia asked, looking over at Snow in shock.

"Apparently," the magic-user confirmed, studying the Doctor with an impressed smile.

"I didn't know fairy rings were that simple," Danielle said, looking at the Doctor in surprise.

"They aren't," the Doctor clarified with a slight smile, wincing at the sensation of the dagger still buried in his chest. "Wasn't a fairy ring… I adapted… techniques… I've encountered… to do that… basic upwards… relocation spell…"

I wondered if I should ask the Doctor to explain that later, but I decided not to bother; I barely understood him when he was talking about science half the time, and if I had to listen to him trying to explain how he'd brought science and magic together to do anything I'd probably _never_ get my head around it. As more gel-guards emerged and the Doctor's barrier vanished, I decided to focus on what I could control right now and leapt back into action, Danielle and Talia close behind me. For a moment the battle was back on, but it didn't take long for me to confirm that there were very few of these things left even with my limited wolf-vision; Omega must not have enough power to make any more of the creatures, particularly when he seemed to be under attack by the same strange figures that had appeared back in his lab. Without Omega to control the creatures, and with Talia's blades proving just as effective as Danielle's sword and my teeth, it didn't take long for the three of us to tear our way through Omega's assembled forces, my new wolf-mind seizing the opportunity and charging towards at Omega himself as he was knocked over by the latest assault, leaving him lying exposed before us…

"ENOUGH!" Omega roared, lashing out with a sweeping motion that sent all three of us flying backwards. I was able to twist around in time to land on my feet- evidently it wasn't only cats who did that- but when I looked up, it became clear that I wasn't needed; the fire creature was launching a new blast towards him, and the earth creature was firing small rocks at him in a manner that reminded me of machine-guns from movies; I even thought I felt the wind was picking up around us, as though it was trying to help the earth creature mount its attack.

As Omega staggered under the assault, Talia leapt back to her feet and hurled a dagger at him in virtually the same motion, but it only left a gash on his arm without causing any serious harm; Danielle was clearly uncomfortable at the thought of trying to attack Omega with her sword amid the rest of this chaos, and we had no other weapons able to damage Omega at this distance. For a moment, I thought that our foe was about to give up, but Omega ended that hope when he suddenly stood up and swept out his arm at us, knocking the spirits back just like he'd sent us flying; they regained their balance fairly quickly, but I didn't need to know anything about magic to see that he was coping with the assault far better than he had been before.

"Do you think _this_ will stop me?" our enemy asked, laughing at us as he lashed out with another hand, sending the earth creature's rocks flying back towards us; a sudden burst of wind was the only thing that stopped them striking us. "I can take anything you can deliver-!"

"Not any more," the Doctor said suddenly, reaching out to clasp Snow's hand as he waved his ringed hand at Omega, causing Omega to blur for a moment before a new barrier was established between us and the insane Time Lord.

"Is that the best-?" Omega began, laughing scathingly at us as he thrust one hand towards our small group, only to stare in horror as nothing happened. "What…?"

"Teleported you a few millimetres away… while transferring your magic into this little barrier," the Doctor explained, smiling as he waved his hand at Omega, indicating the blue thing around us. "You were so busy… blocking offensive attacks… you missed something so subtle…"

"You drained his magic by _teleporting_ him?" Talia said, looking at the Doctor in surprise.

"Once did something similar… to save a sick friend," the Doctor explained, smiling over at the former Sleeping Beauty. "She was sick… teleported her away… left the infected blood behind…"

"NO!" Omega roared, charging towards the barrier and slamming his fists against it, energy crackling around his hands as he stared at my friend in outrage. "You _cannot_ take my power-!"

"Just did," the Doctor said, waving at Omega with a casual smirk. "I do that a lot, remember?"

"And we're not exactly slouches at this kind of thing either, 'Omega'," Snow added, smiling as she looked at the man in the mask. "I know the scribes made us seem a bit pathetic, but-"

"Shut _up_!" Omega roared at Snow before he re-focused his attention on my friend. "You _cannot_ stop me, Doctor; you can only delay me! Once I have disposed of you and regained my power, I _will_ return to our universe and rebuild-!"

"You won't… do… _any_ … of that," the Doctor said, waving me over and leaning on me as he got to his feet, still trembling from the knife in his chest but staring resolutely at our foe as his hand rested on my back while I growled at our foe. "Our time is over, Omega; the universe doesn't _need_ you any more."

"And it 'needs' _you_?" Omega spat, slamming a palm against the barrier as he looked contemptuously at my friend. "The sheer _ego_ of it-!"

"Maybe I'm not perfect, but I… have never tried to force anyone… to do what I want… at the cost of others," the Doctor said, his manner so firm that only the tremor I felt on my back gave away how weak my friend felt right now. "You would demand obedience… and the universe needs freedom…"

"Don't know about the rest of you, but I'll take freedom any day of the week," Snow said, glaring solemnly at the twisted Time Lord in front of us before she reached up to take hold of her glass choker, holding it over her heart as she began to glow. "Mirror, mirror, at my breast-"

"NO!" Omega yelled, stretching out a desperate hand towards us.

"Grant this being eternal rest," Snow finished, her gaze fixed on the being before us.

As soon as Snow had finished speaking, Omega was consumed by a burst of white light that seemed to come from Snow, briefly looking like some kind of face before the light became so intense that I had to shut my eyes against it. After the light had faded, I opened my eyes again, but shuddered at the sight of Omega's robes lying on the ground where he had been, now empty of the living being that had been wearing them mere moments ago, the small pile becoming clearer as the barrier that the Doctor had erected earlier vanished, its purpose now served.

It was the first time since arriving here that I really appreciated how powerful and dangerous magic could be; even the alien weapons I'd encountered so far couldn't destroy someone that… _completely_.

My thoughts were distracted by a strange golden glow that suddenly came from Snow, but when I turned to look at her directly, I was surprised to see that nothing had actually happened to her; she was just standing there, seemingly unharmed, looking at the rest of us in a nonchalant manner before she crouched down to where the Doctor had fallen to the ground once again, now clutching at his injured side. Before anyone else could say anything, Snow had yanked the dagger in the Doctor's side out of his chest, pulling out a small bottle of something and pouring it over the wound, the vicious-looking wound glowing a soft blue where the bottle's contents made contact with it before it seemed to shrink right in front of our eyes.

"Healing potion," Snow explained, smiling over at the other two princesses as she used a damp cloth to wipe away the last of the blood around the Doctor's wound. "It's normally only good for smaller scrapes, but the Doctor assured me before he stabbed himself that his ability to heal is better than ours is; the potion just makes it easier."

"OK…" Talia said, nodding uncertainly at Snow before she turned back to me. "You should probably get that cloak off now; if you feel around under your neck, you'll find… well, you can get it off that way."

Reaching down with my teeth and claws, I found what felt like some kind of join around my neck and tore the wolfskin off, my body and shape returning to normal as the cloak left my body with only a brief twinge as I returned to my human form. For a moment, I could only gasp in shock as I felt my fingers and toes return, taking in air on my hands and knees as I processed my restored sense of touch, before I stood up and looked across the room at the three princesses and my friend, the Doctor lying on the ground as Snow finished rubbing the potion into his still-healing wound.

"What was…" I said, lost for words as I picked up the fallen cloak, trying to process what had just happened to me as I looked between the cloak and the woman who'd given it to me. "I mean… _Red Riding Hood_ was the _wolf_?"

"As meeting us should have told you, the tales are never what everyone believes," Talia explained grimly, taking up the story as the glow around the Doctor's wound began to fade as the last of the injury repaired itself. "Even we didn't know the truth at first, but we learned later that the wolf was actually Roudette's grandmother, seeking to protect her village from a fairy hunt that often passed through the area; most of the locals just tried to stay out of the way and avoid provoking the hunt unless they had t. Roudette defied the path set out for her by her family to help her grandmother, and inherited her grandmother's wolfskin cloak after she was killed by one of the Hunt; she combined it with her village's traditional red cloak and added runic charms to it that would deflect any attempts to use magic against her directly."

"We helped her stop the hunt last year when it came to Talia's old kingdom, and… well, to put it simply, Roudette died during the fight and Talia essentially inherited her cloak," Danielle explained. "After all, I'm not really that comfortable fighting and Snow's strengths lie in her magic; letting Talia have it for emergencies made sense."

"I'm sorry for dropping you into it like that, but based on what your friend told us about his life, it seemed like a good call," Talia explained. "You've got nerve, but you didn't strike me as a fighter; letting you use the cloak seemed like a good way to give us some help and technically take a weaker player off the board."

"Ah," I said, studying the cloak out of a lack of anything else I could say, before I remembered what I'd seen earlier and looked back at the Doctor. "And if we're talking about unexpected things, why the _Hell_ did you stab yourself?"

"To give Snow energy to summon the dwarves," the Doctor replied, wincing as he got back to his feet and began to do up his shirt once again, his chest now unmarred by the wound inflicted by the knife.

"What?" Talia said.

"Those were the _dwarves_?" I said, incredulously indicating the battle-torn fields around us, unable to believe that the creatures I would always remember as singing 'Heigh-Ho' had been capable of something like this. "I thought they were just miners?"

"The bards simplified things," Snow explained. "You have to admit, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' roles off the tongue a lot easier than 'Snow White and the Seven Anthromorphic Personifications', doesn't it?"

"Anthro-what?"

"Basically, what the stories refer to as the dwarves for simplicity's sake are actually seven elemental spirits; my mother learned about them, but I was the one who summoned them for our final fight," Snow explained. "Each personifies one of the seven natural forces of the world- Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow and Magic- but in order to summon them, I normally have to sacrifice seven years of my life as payment; that's why my mother never summoned them herself, and why I look like this when I'm only in my early twenties."

"Oh," I said, suddenly bemused at this unexpected news; after seeing so many cases where strange powers made people look younger, it was strange and disturbing to be faced with a situation where similar powers made people _older_. "So… I saw five of them… was that wind I felt the Air 'dwarf'?"

"Precisely; she's hard to see most of the time, so don't worry that you missed her," Snow confirmed. "And before you ask, the seventh spirit was magic itself; she's too volatile to have her own form, so she remained in me most of the time."

"Ah," I said, suddenly remembering that brief glimpse of another face I'd seen imposed over Snow's own as she banished Omega.

"And you helped her avoid losing more of _her_ life by… stabbing yourself?" Talia said, drawing my thoughts back to the present as she looked sceptically at the Doctor.

"Precisely," the Doctor said, looking between us with a smile, wincing slightly as he rubbed at the location of his wound under his shirt. "You see, while I have and _need_ two hearts to operate normally- tried going without one once and it was uncomfortable at best; I was so _slow_ compared to what I could have been- I learned the hard way a few lives back that being stabbed in _one_ heart isn't necessarily fatal; however, that kind of injury will… basically, if I'm injured like that, my body will automatically release… certain energies that normally allow me to heal from such damage through that 'recreation' process I mentioned earlier. I wasn't injured enough to actually need to _change_ , but my body still released enough of that energy to keep me alive as I began to heal, and then your potions finished the job without any unpleasant side-effects."

"And… why did you have to do that?" Talia asked.

"It was the only way I could help Snow perform that ritual," the Doctor explained, looking over at Snow with a reassuring smile before he turned back to the rest of us. "I can transfer my life energy if I have to, but it normally relies on me dealing with something that's already capable of absorbing that energy in the first place. By injuring myself and triggering my body's ability to heal, I was able to boost my usual energy transference abilities so that I could give Snow the equivalent of seven years of _my_ life, which she was then able to use for that ritual she just performed, allowing her to summon the dwarves without aging herself."

"Oh," I said, nodding in uncertain understanding. "So… you gave Snow the energy that was the _equivalent_ of seven years of your life… she used that energy to summon the dwarves instead of her _own_ life energy… and now that potion's healing the damage?"

"Precisely," the Doctor confirmed, grinning at me in approval. "After all, seven lost years for me isn't even a blip on the radar; I can think of a few instances in my past that were more than interesting enough to make up for losing that…"

"Talking of your past," Talia said, looking pointedly at the Doctor, "what you and Omega said about you being responsible for the deaths of entire species…?"

"Like I said to Omega, the occasion he was thinking of was an accident; I was trying to stop a group of telepathic pirates and was unaware that the area where they were hiding was also inhabited by a race of beings who existed as pure thought," the Doctor explained, his expression solemn as he looked back at the dark-skinned warrior princess while doing up his shirt, his self-inflicted wound now just a small scar. "Every other time it's happened… most of the time I only destroyed them because I was facing the last of a particularly violent and war-like race which had officially been destroyed already; all I had to do was defeat the last one to stop them killing even more people when they decided to revert to type."

"Most of-?" Talia began.

"The exception was when he was dealing with a race of utter monsters," I interjected, wanting to spare my friend from discussing the Time War any more than he had to (I was just relieved that Omega hadn't brought it up himself, and none of the princesses had asked for more details after the Doctor mentioned that Gallifrey was gone; they probably assumed that it was just a kingdom that had fallen rather than everyone there being killed). "They were prepared to destroy everything if he did nothing, he had no other choice but to kill every last one of them to stop their plans, and he would have done anything to avoid it getting to that point, but…"

Lost for any better way to describe what had happened on that dark day, I shrugged helplessly. "He couldn't find another way."

The three princesses simply looked at the Doctor in silent contemplation for a moment, before Danielle smiled at him.

"You helped us save people you've never met from someone who basically founded your civilisation," she said at last, nodding at the Doctor in approval. "Whatever you've done before… I believe that you didn't do it lightly."

"Hey, we've all done things that we're not proud of in the aftermath; all we can do is decide whether it was worth doing them at the time," Snow said, looking at the Doctor in a particularly pointed manner. "What matters is, if you had the chance to do those things over again, would you do it differently and why or why not?"

"I wouldn't," the Doctor said firmly. "Countless people would have died if I had done nothing."

"I'll go with that," Snow said, smiling at him in approval before she looked over at Talia. "That's two of us, Talia; how about you?"

After looking appraisingly at the Doctor for a moment, Talia smiled slightly at him.

"I'm not sure if I believe you, but I certainly wouldn't want to take Omega's word for anything," she said, indicating the burned patch of ground where our foe had been standing earlier. "If you and Bella both insist that you didn't have a choice… well, I'm hardly going to point fingers after some of the things I've done."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, nodding gratefully at her before looking over at the other two princesses. "So, with that all sorted, shall we get back to the palace?"

Only the grim shadow in his eyes told me that he still regretted what he had done to Omega, but I also knew that my friend would be all right; whatever Omega had once been to the Time Lords, right now, he had been an enemy, and the Doctor had acknowledged that there was only one way to stop him hurting more innocent people.

He'd made the right decision; whatever else would happen after this, I would be sure to remind him of that.


	10. A Chance to Meet Your Favourites

As I stood on the ship that Beatrice had provided for our latest excursion, I tried to resist the urge to feel sick; only the fact that Danielle looked equally unsteady on her feet helped me feel less foolish about this whole thing. I was able to stay in my cabin for most of the trip to practise my sea-legs, but our new friends had assured us that the ship would be able to reach our destination in comparatively little time.

I hadn't been expecting to take a second trip, but when we had returned to Whiteshore Palace to explain that the situation had been resolved, the Doctor had taken Queen Beatrice aside to ask for something else that he wanted to do. Although Beatrice had been planning a celebration to commemorate our victory over Omega- even if the fairies apparently wouldn't acknowledge it- she had quickly agreed to the Doctor's request once he'd made the offer, and had made arrangements to send a message and have us all taken out to sea on her personal ship, the _Philippa_ , a two-masted narrow design with rich brown wood and a swan as the figurehead. From what Danielle had told me when we boarded, the ship's captain was also the ship itself; she was a dryad who'd angered the fairy queen and had her tree cut down and sent to Lorindar. Beatrice had managed to preserve the dryad with various enchantments, but the dryad apparently still resented having to answer to the queen, which had prompted me to stay away from her; the Doctor had struck up the occasional conversation, but I wasn't comfortable

"Why are we doing this, exactly?" I asked, looking uncertainly at the Doctor as we stood on the deck of the ship, looking out at the sea before us. I'd been meaning to ask the question before, but this was the first time I'd felt comfortable enough to bring it up without focusing on not feeling ill due to the swaying of the ship.

"Nobody told you?" my friend said in surprise.

"It was all a bit quick at the start, and then I wasn't feeling well…" I said, suddenly embarrassed at this new reminder of my human frailties.

"Ah, sorry about that; thought I should just give you time to get your sea-legs together…" the Doctor said, before he shrugged and smiled at me in a hopeful manner. "Anyway, you remember how Danielle told us on the way to the chasm about a recent incident with an undine princess who tried to stab Queen Beatrice?" I nodded in response. "Good; anyway, I asked around on the way back, and it turns out that she did that after she was driven insane by a few misplaced spells, so I'm going to see if I can help her get something back together upstairs."

"You mean… we're going to see the Little Mermaid?" I said, looking at the Doctor in surprise.

" _He's_ here to see Lirea, if that's who you mean; the rest of us are just here because he needs a guide, and you're here because he insists you come along," Talia clarified from where she had wandered up to us while we were talking, looking anxiously at the water below. "I just have to wonder what he thinks he'll accomplish with this…"

"You never know until you try," the Doctor explained, shrugging at her with a smile before he looked ahead of us once again. "Ah, there we are, right?"

Looking ahead, I smiled as I saw a large array of rocks emerging from the sea ahead of us, gathered around something that I soon tentatively identified as an old fortress. It looked like it had been the victim of some kind of powerful storm at some point in the past, or maybe some sort of war, with most of it lying in ruins around the coastline, and even the most intact towers had some holes scattered around.

"The mermaids live here?" I said in surprise.

"More out of necessity than anything else, given Lirea's current condition; don't ask them about how they feel about settling down here directly, remember to call them undine rather than mermaids, and you'll be fine," Snow corrected me, before she smiled over at the Doctor. "The last time we met with them, Lirea was staying in a tower at one side of an old fortress that's only accessible by the other undine through a tunnel that they dug to get up there after her breakdown; the only other way to access it is by climbing up the outside, and nobody's going to do that without getting past the undine."

"Understood," the Doctor said, smiling over at Snow before looking at the other princesses. "Thanks for accompanying me here."

"Well… after everything Lirea went through, I'd like to feel that we at least tried to help her," Danielle explained. "It wasn't one of our better days, really; we stopped the war, but we couldn't save Lirea and Beatrice is still dying from the injuries she sustained then…"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, smiling sympathetically at the princess. "I wish we could do something for her, but from what you've described… well, the nature of the injury…"

"We're not expecting anything more than what you say we can do," Danielle said, smiling in understanding at the Doctor. "Just… do what you can here."

"Of course," the Doctor smiled, nodding at the princess before he turned and walked off, prompting me to go over and join him as he stood and stared out at the approaching rocks.

"So… you're seriously going to try and save the mentally-damaged Little Mermaid?" I asked, looking uncertainly at the Doctor; so long as I didn't pay too much attention to the sea around us, my usually chaotic balance wasn't that much of a problem. "Is that even possible?"

"Well, considering what Snow's told me about what her grandmother did to her, it might not be possible- the mind and the soul are complex but delicate things, and the line between them can be difficult- but I have to try," the Doctor explained, his expression briefly solemn before he smiled at me. "After all, what fan turns down the chance to save their favourite character?"

" _You_ liked the _Little Mermaid_?" I said, unable to stop myself from smiling at that notion; when dealing with a centuries-old Time Lord, it was fascinating to see his more human traits, but the image of the Doctor singing along to _Under the Sea_ \- actually, he'd probably enjoy the themes of _Part of Your World_ more when I thought about it- just suddenly struck me as the most amusing thing I'd ever imagined…

"What can I say?" the Doctor said, smiling back at me. "It had its ups and downs, but I always rather identified with the character's appreciation for humanity where none of her people shared that interest… although I did prefer the Disney musical version."

"They did a musical?" I asked in surprise.

"It comes out next year for you; I can recommend taking a trip to see it," the Doctor explained with a smile. "Anyway, it added a few other details to the plot of the Disney movie- included some extra songs, expanded on that octopus woman's connection to the royal family, things like that- but the main thing it changed was that the antagonist's powers were personified by this enchanted seashell, and she was defeated when the mermaid smashed the shell rather than because the prince drove his ship into her."

"Ah," I said, nodding in understanding; it had been a while since I'd seen the Disney version, but I _thought_ I remembered what the Doctor was talking about. "And you liked that?"

"Well, I don't approve of violence, but I much prefer stories where characters can stand on their own two feet… even if it was metaphorical in that instance, since she had her tail back by that point in the story," the Doctor explained, before he shrugged and indicated his cabin. "Anyway, back in a moment; right now, I have to change."

As the Doctor hurried back into the cabin, I turned around to stare at the sea, glancing around to see if I could spot any of the undine. I saw a few figures weaving around underneath the ship that looked vaguely human, but at this distance they could have been dolphins or some other sea creature…

"You have a very… interesting friend there," Snow said, smiling thoughtfully at me as she settled into place beside me.

"That's the Doctor for you," I said, smiling back at her, abandoning my search for the undine at the moment; I'd see them soon enough after all. "You don't always know what he's going to do, but you can be sure it's going to be interesting."

"I gathered," Snow said, before she looked more thoughtfully at me. "So… Danielle told me some things, but how _did_ you meet the Doctor?"

"I… well, someone left me," I said, deciding to avoid mentioning the vampire angle of Edward's history; we might be in a word of fairy-tales, but just because vampires were real back on Earth didn't mean that there might not be some Dracula-style vampires here. "I was feeling depressed about the loss, ended up trying some… well, I did some reckless things to try and get over what had happened to me, and the Doctor saved my life when… one of those things went wrong."

"And you travelled with him to pay off a debt?" Snow asked.

"He invited me to travel with him to get away from the memory of what I'd lost," I explained. "I wasn't getting anywhere stuck in the same place, constantly dealing with my memories of Edward while my best friend wanted to start something new that I wasn't even sure I wanted myself, so when he offered me the chance to see things beyond anything I'd experienced before…"

"You went travelling to get over your lover?" Snow said in surprise.

"Well… we never really _got_ that far…" I said, suddenly embarrassed as Snow looked at me in surprise. "He was… we had the _potential_ , but he was always worried about hurting me… and then he left because he decided I wasn't enough… he realised that he didn't love me…"

I swallowed and turned my attention back to the wooden rail I was leaning on, trying to stop the tears I felt in the corner of my eyes; even if I'd recognised that my relationship with Edward had encouraged far too many personal problems, I could still mourn what I thought we'd shared…

"Talia's in love with me."

I had no idea how to respond to Snow's statement.

_Sleeping Beauty_ was in love with _Snow White_? If that didn't put a new twist on fairy tales, I didn't know what did…

"I only found out a while back, but ever since…" Snow began, shaking her head as she looked out once again. "I mean, she's never pushed me for anything, and she's never shown any sign that she resents me for not feeling the same way, but it… I mean, what do I _do_?"

"Just… ignore it?" I said, trying not to panic at the thought of what was happening here; _Snow White_ was basically asking _me_ for romantic advice?

"I've been doing that, believe me, but sometimes… even if I don't _want_ her, I don't want to lose what we _do_ have," Snow explained, shaking her head in frustration. "I thought about trying to give her what she wanted, but-"

"No."

"Pardon?" Snow said, looking at me in surprise.

"Don't try that," I said firmly, amazed at my new confidence as I discussed something I'd never even really shared with the Doctor yet. "My lover left me because he realised that he didn't actually… care about me… _that_ way, and even though it hurt at the time, travelling with the Doctor, I've… well, even if it hurt to lose him, I wouldn't have wanted him to stay if he didn't _want_ to."

"I wouldn't even change anything else, I'd just-"

"Whatever you were thinking of, it wouldn't be worth it," I continued, thinking of love potions and other possibilities that might exist in this world. "If Edward had stayed because he cared about me even if he knew he could never _love_ me, he would have been miserable eventually; if Talia loves you, she wants you to do what makes _you_ happy, not what would make _her_ happy."

Edward might have made the wrong call when he'd left me in the woods that night if he wanted me to get over him, but after everything I'd seen travelling with the Doctor, I could at least admit that his _intentions_ had been good.

He'd chosen the worst possible method of trying to protect me imaginable, but in the end, for all that he was just over a century old, he was also stuck in the body of a seventeen-year-old; he could make immature and stupid decisions at times. He might have been older chronologically, but I was already more mature than him even before I'd started travelling with the Doctor; what I'd learned about myself since then just reinforced that fact.

The intentions behind what Snow was thinking of doing were good, but she would have been making them for the wrong reasons; no matter how much Talia and I might love her and Edward, we wouldn't want them to make themselves stay with us…

"Thanks," Snow said, smiling at me before she looked down at the water with a smile. "Lannadae!"

Looking down, I was surprised to see that a small group of three undine had swum up while Snow and I had been talking. Two of them were bare-chested men holding long fishing spears, but the third was a female with reddish scales, red hair and an oyster-like necklace, her hair hanging down just enough to conceal things.

"Hello, Snow White," the mermaid- undine, I reminded myself- said, smiling at the princess before looking curiously at me. "Are you a princess too?"

"No, I'm just a friend," I said, fighting down my initial amusement at the question. "My name's Bella Swan; I'm a friend of the Doctor."

"The man who's here to help Lirea?" Lannadae asked.

"He'll… see what he can do, anyway," I said, suddenly reluctant to say more and get this young girl's hopes up. "I'll just go and get him-"

"No need; already here," the Doctor said from behind us, Snow and I turning to see him standing on the deck in a dark blue wetsuit the same colour as the TARDIS, smiling casually at us before he looked over the . "I nipped into the TARDIS before boarding and grabbed this; just get me to your sister and I can take it from there."

"Where did you get _that_?" Captain Hephyra asked, looking incredulously at the Doctor.

"I have pockets that are bigger on the inside," the Doctor explained with a smile as he studied the tower before us. "I thought about bringing an oxygen tank as well, but it looks like it's easy enough to swim there; it's getting up that's the problem."

"It's not exactly a short swim-" Snow began.

"The Doctor's very good at holding his breath," I said, smiling as my friend walked to the edge of the ship and prepared to jump into the water. "He'll be fine."

"Exactly; no need to fret," the Doctor said, smiling back at me before he snapped the mask on over his eyes and looked down at the sea. "Take me to your sister, Lannadae; _allons-y_!"

With those words, my friend stepped forward and jumped off the ship, hitting the ocean and quickly being grabbed by one of the nearest undine as the small group swam back towards the tower. I briefly noted that Lannadae seemed to have two leg-like tails rather than the one I'd been expecting, but I didn't feel that there was any point in asking; it was probably just some royal family thing.

"'Allons-y'?" Talia repeated, looking inquiringly at me.

"It's… a thing he says," I replied. "He likes the sound of it."

"Your friend is _very_ strange," Snow noted with a smile.

"He gets that a lot," I conceded. "But he's also the best man I've ever encountered; he gave up everything he'd been born into because he wanted to really _experience_ what was out in the world, and he's always willing to help others, even if it doesn't always work out the way he wanted."

"If he faces things like Omega without magic, I'm surprised he's lasted this long," Snow noted. "I mean, I know you don't _need_ magic on a daily basis, but against someone that insane-"

"Compared to some of the things I've seen, Omega was almost tame," I noted, smiling at Snow reassuringly. "Besides, the Doctor's smart enough to always find a weakness; he once told me about a time he encountered a race of beings who were believed to be gods who shaped themselves based on the faith others had in them, and he survived being hit by a fireball larger than him despite being in front of a field full of people who worshipped those beings because his belief in himself outweighed the worshippers' belief in their gods."

"Creatures shaped by belief?" Talia said sceptically.

"Hey, we all adapt according to what others expect of us; those things just… took that to the next level," Snow suggested, shrugging thoughtfully at Talia before she looked back at me. "Can I ask… why does he do it?"

"Help people?" I asked, wanting to be sure what Snow was asking before I continued. "Well, originally he started out just wanting to travel; after Omega's work gave his people their powers, they basically dedicated themselves to observing everything from isolation, never taking action or going out to see anything for themselves…"

"And the Doctor couldn't do that, I assume?" Snow asked.

"He was bored even when he was at school, from what I've heard," I said, smiling as I remembered some of the stories the Doctor had told me about his past while we'd been trapped on Hurala. "Anyway, eventually he took… the blue box… and left his home because he wanted the chance to really _see_ everything; others of his people just stayed inside their ships and watched everything in hiding even if they did leave their home, but the Doctor wanted to get out there and spend time talking with everyone, instead of just acting like he was… reading all about us or watching a play or something."

"Forsaking comfort for excitement?" Talia noted, looking at me in a manner that I couldn't quite read. "I can't decide if that's admirable or foolish."

"I don't know if he wanted his people to copy him, but I don't think he's ever regretted the decision," I said, wanting to focus on the positives of the Doctor's past rather than discuss his darker moments.

The four of us settled into conversation as we waited, idly discussing some of our past experiences- with me taking care to edit my stories to accommodate a world that couldn't understand space travel or aliens- until the sound of something large swimming towards prompted me to turn around and look over the edge of the ship, smiling as I saw the Doctor being carried back towards us on the back of one of the undine. As I watched, the Doctor waved at the ship before the undine carrying him dived down and then leapt up into the air, allowing the Doctor to jump off his back and grab on to the edge of the ship. After hauling himself over the edge of the ship, the Doctor removed his mask to smile at us, but it wasn't the enthusiastic grin I was used to seeing from my friend after he had accomplished the seemingly impossible.

"You couldn't do it?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes and no," the Doctor replied, shaking his head. "What's wrong with Lirea goes into a spiritual level that I can't really assess in this manner- like I told Bella earlier, the mind and the soul are very distinct in a manner that's hard to explain- but I was able to… reconstruct some parts of her mind that had been damaged by the spells used to control her."

"What does that mean?" Talia asked.

"Well, her voice will never have the power it should have if what I read from her memories is accurate, but I managed to use my own abilities to put the pieces back together to a certain degree," the Doctor explained. "If you assume that her mind was a window that was broken, what I just did allowed me to put some of the pieces back together; it'll be the equivalent of frosted glass rather than the clear pane it was before, but it's still workable."

"So she can lead us again?" Lannadae asked, leaping up to the side of the _Philippa_ , holding on to the edge as she looked curiously at us.

"Give her time, and I'd recommend having someone there to help her make the really big decisions for a while, but she should be thinking more clearly now," the Doctor explained. "I hoped that I could do more, but I didn't know enough about magic-"

"If you've done what you said, that's more than we could have ever expected," Lannadae said, smiling warmly at the Doctor. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Thank _you_ ," the Doctor said, nodding back at Lannadae. "Very nice to meet you all."

With that, Lannadae turned around and dived back underwater, leaving the _Philippa_ bobbing alone in the ocean once again.

"They… don't stick around much," Danielle said, shrugging as she looked over at me, noticing my bemused expression. "They're very direct that way."

"Ah," I said, nodding in acknowledgement out of a lack of anything else to say.

It said a great deal about my life with the Doctor that I was now only slightly disappointed that I didn't have a chance to spend more time with real mermaids when so many other possibilities awaited me out there…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe this was more of a bonus chapter, but I stand by my belief that the Doctor would have liked the tale of _The Little Mermaid_ for the reasons listed, and I wanted to give Snow and Bella a chance to have this talk.


	11. Leaving the Land of Fairy Tales

If there was one thing you could always be sure of when travelling with the Doctor, it was that you would experience things that you would have once believed impossible; the only question was whether you'd enjoy them. While I could have done without my time spent working in the Dalek mines, my close call with James when I was with Edward had given me an earlier experience with facing the possibility of my own death, and I'd always either had faith that the Doctor could get us out of this or never faced anything on my own that I couldn't at least try to deal with.

Compared to some of my past experiences, therefore, while getting dressed up to attend a dinner in my honour with a royal family and two exiled princesses in the kingdom of fairy-tales was an intimidating prospect, it was one that I could at least theoretically accept. It was strange to think about the fact that I was having a meal with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, but even though I felt uncomfortable in a red dress with golden embroidery that would have probably sent Alice into hysterics if she'd seen it, it was actually rather easy to get along with the assorted princesses.

The Doctor had somehow managed to retain his usual clothes for this final celebratory feast to commemorate our victory over Omega, but I felt that it would be rude to turn down the dress when Snow offered it, and I had to admit that it was rather comfortable once I got used to it. While the Doctor conversed with the king and queen and a short man that I had been told was the former Fairytown ambassador, Trittibar- he'd apparently lost his position when he was forced to use magic to save himself, Talia and Snow from an attack- I was enjoying a conversation with the three women about our past experiences, ranging from the truth of their stories to anything I could tell them about life with the Doctor without discussing aliens, other planets, or concepts they couldn't understand.

Eventually, as the conversation around us began to die down, Queen Beatrice stood up, leaning on her chair as she looked around the hall.

"We are gathered here to celebrate the end of a threat to our allies in Fairytown, but we are also gathered her to acknowledge the coming departure of our two new allies," she said, addressing the entire hall before her attention focused on the Doctor and I. "The Doctor and Isabella Swan have come here under unusual circumstances, but their contribution to our victory over this new threat cannot be understated; were it not for the Doctor's exceptional knowledge and Isabella's own remarkable courage, it is unlikely that our own efforts would have accomplished anything. We have known them for a brief time only, but their assistance in these matters has been much appreciated."

"I only did what I could, your majesty," the Doctor replied, smiling back at the queen as she greeted him with a smile of her own before his expression became more solemn. "I just wish that I could do more…"

"We only ask that you do whatever you are willing and able to do, Doctor," Beatrice said, looking reassuringly at my friend, evidently understanding what the Doctor wasn't saying. "You have helped our allies and defeated a great threat; that's more than we could have expected."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, bowing slightly at her.

"It is a small thing in honour of all that you have done for us, but I felt that you might appreciate this token of our gratitude," Beatrice said, holding a hand out to receive a golden staff, about a metre in length, with two serpents twisted around one end in a manner that reminded me of that symbol outside some hospitals. "It is a staff of healing, one of the oldest magical items ever created; its use was generally symbolic rather than it possessing great power on its own, but the principle behind its creation was still fascinating. This one has been drained of most of its power, but it remains an item of some historical interest; since you have said that you do not use magic yourself, I thought that you would appreciate it as a reminder of what you have achieved."

"Your highness, I can't-" the Doctor began, as she walked away from her throne towards him.

"As I said, it is a powerless relic that was mainly interesting for its symbolic value rather than its ability, but I have faith that it will be in good hands, Doctor," Beatrice assured him with a warm smile, as she laid the staff in the Doctor's hands. "That's one of the benefits of being a queen; I have a great deal of surplus belongings that I will never use."

I had to chuckle at that analogy; I'd never met any actual royalty back on Earth, but it was hard to imagine any of them being this casual towards anyone they'd met such a short time ago…

"And for you, Miss Swan," Beatrice said, turning to walk towards me with a warm smile, pulling an object out from under her cloak, "Talia thought that you might like this."

When I accepted the gift, I was surprised to see that it was a decently-sized dagger, reminding me of something I'd seen in the _Lord of the Rings_ films during a marathon that the Cullens had on at one point- Jasper apparently enjoyed the war scenes- with a handle carved in the shape of a snarling wolf's head.

"Considering that you needed to borrow my wolf to fight last time, I thought I'd make sure you have your own in future," Talia explained, smiling at me as I studied the blade in awe. "I used a few tricks Snow's picked up over the years to prepare it; it's not quite as impressive as Danielle's sword, but it should be able to cut through most things if you need it, and Snow helped me include a couple of other enchantments so that you can't hurt yourself with it by accident."

"Thanks," I said, smiling in appreciation at the princess as I studied the blade in my hands.

I may hope that I wouldn't need this kind of defence in future, but the fact that someone had gone to all this time and effort to make me something to ensure that I _could_ defend myself, rather than Edward and the Cullens and the Quillettes always telling me to stay back and let them handle it…

Even if I wasn't on their level now, it was nice to feel that people acknowledged me as a potential equal rather than automatically dismissing me as a victim who could never compare to them. As much as I appreciated the Cullens' desire to protect me, it had always frustrated me that I could do so little to help them in return; anything that made me feel like I could make an active contribution was good news as far as I was concerned.

* * *

The next morning found me standing outside the TARDIS, waiting impatiently for the Doctor to arrive; everything I'd taken to my room was already back in the ship, but I still needed the pilot if I wanted to go anywhere. I could have stayed inside the ship, but even if I had a key, when I'd woken up early this morning before the activity in the palace could really kick off, I felt that it would be more polite to wait outside the ship in case the Doctor brought anyone with him for a final goodbye (The Doctor might feel comfortable waking up royalty, but I wasn't there yet).  
  
Even after the feast was over, the celebrations hadn't completely ended. While most of the royals and servants had retired for the night, the Doctor and I had somehow ended up talking with Snow and Talia respectively, Talia giving me a few interesting tips on how to use my new knife and the Doctor last seen engaging in a very animated discussion with Snow before she took him somewhere else. I had eventually just collapsed in my room after Talia's training was over, too exhausted to even change out of my dress, but when I had woken up the next morning I found that Danielle had left me a note saying that I could keep the dress as well if I wanted it, which at least saved me having to change back into my regular clothes.  
  
I was just starting to wonder if I should nip inside to find something to read in the TARDIS library while I waited, when I heard someone talking as they came towards me. Turning in the direction of the voices, I smiled at the sight of the Doctor walking into the courtyard, still chatting with Snow about something, as Talia and Danielle led the way.  
  
"Early riser?" Danielle asked as the four of them joined me around the TARDIS.  
  
"My last boyfriend didn't sleep much, and when you're with the Doctor… well, you get used to the need to get moving at short notice," I explained, patting the blue box with a slight smile.  
  
"Oi!" the Doctor said, looking at me with mock indignation. "I've never expected you to run just after waking up!"  
  
"True," I conceded, smiling teasingly at him. "Still, we _do_ tend to end up running a lot…"  
  
"Not all the time," the Doctor retorted defensively. "We managed to get by during our trip to the _Tempus Fugit_ without any trouble, didn't we?"  
  
"The what?" Snow asked.  
  
"Just a restaurant the Doctor owns," I explained. "We went there for a rest after a… well, it was a difficult time."  
  
"You own a restaurant?" Talia said in surprise. "I thought you said you were a traveller?"  
  
"I've dabbled in a few ventures over the years," the Doctor clarified, before he shrugged as he indicated the TARDIS. "Anyway, as nice as it's been to see you all, Bella and I should probably be moving on; time and tide wait for no man, after all."  
  
"You wish to return to your travels; I can respect that," Danielle said, drawing her glass sword and looking solemnly at us. "However, if you would allow me a moment of your time before your departure, could you kneel?"  
  
I was almost too stunned to respond to that request when I realised what Danielle intended, but seeing the Doctor get to his knees, I quickly followed his example and knelt on the ground before the princess.  
  
"I dub thee Sir Doctor of Lungbarrow and Lorindar, and Lady Bella Swan of Forks," Danielle said, placing her sword on each of our shoulders before stepping back and indicating that we could stand up. "I hope you don't mind; I'm not sure what the policy is for knighting someone if they already _have_ an estate, but I felt that it couldn't do any harm…"  
  
"I greatly appreciate this honour, Danielle," the Doctor said, smiling warmly at her as he shook the three princesses by the hand. "Your help in dealing with Omega has been very welcome; Bella and I will always remember meeting you."  
  
"I second that," I said, trying not to grin like an idiot at the notion that I was now a _lady_ as I followed my friend's example, also exchanging brief cheek-kisses with the princesses as we parted. "I mean, I heard so many stories about you before coming here- I mean, I've heard those stories before I even met the Doctor- but _meeting_ you… well, they don't do you justice."  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment," Talia said, shaking her head with an amused smile on her face before she looked at me with the closest thing to genuine warmth I'd seen on her face. "You're not the best fighter I've ever known, but if you encounter things like Omega on a regular basis… you're one of the bravest people I've ever met."  
  
"Thanks," I said, smiling awkwardly at her.  
  
"We probably won't see you again, will we?" Snow asked.  
  
"Probably not, no," the Doctor acknowledged, nodding back at her. "It's been an experience, but this place is so far off my usual routes that, well…"  
  
"I understand," Snow said, her farewell smile turning more seductive as she walked up to him. "In that case…"  
  
When Snow grabbed the Doctor by the back of the head to pull his lips to hers, giving him such a passionate kiss that I suddenly felt like an intruder on some private moment, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour right now. Smiling awkwardly at Danielle and Talia one last time, I turned around to open the TARDIS door and slip inside, making sure that my knife was secure in my belt before the Doctor entered the ship, wiping his mouth as he looked over at me.  
  
"Sorry about that," the Doctor said, the Time Lord appearing unusually embarrassed as he hurried to the console. "Apparently, Snow wanted to just give me one last reminder of last night; her words, not mine."  
  
"Last night?" I repeated, looking at my friend in surprise as he set the TARDIS in motion to take us away from Lorindar.  
  
"We started talking after the main celebration was over, Snow suggested we continue it in her rooms, and then… well, one thing led to another, and the other thing led to her blindfolding me with my own tie and taking my shirt off…"  
  
"Hold on a minute…" I said, torn between staring incredulously and bursting out laughing as I considered what the Doctor had just revealed. "Are you saying… you mean… you and _Snow White_ …?"  
  
"She was very… I didn't really… well, what do you _do_ in that situation?" the Doctor asked, waving his hands in confusion. "Honestly, I go through seven bodies without anyone wanting to do more than talk to me or lock me up, then I go and kiss the woman who killed me in a post-regenerative fit, and nowadays everyone wants to… jump my bones or whatever the term is!"  
  
"Well," I said, unsure what I should say given my own limited experience, "at least you… said a fond farewell?"  
  
"It's been an interesting trip, certainly," the Doctor noted, smiling wistfully as he adjusted a few settings on the console; I felt the TARDIS shaking slightly, but compared to the turbulence we'd experienced before landing at Lorindar this barely registered. "Anyway, it wasn't all that; we had some rather interesting talks about some of the more unique spells she's performed, some of my own experiences while travelling, how Omega could copy my body, that sort of thing…"  
  
I wasn't naïve enough to think that the Doctor was completely over what had just happened- I doubted that he'd ever found it easy to kill another Time Lord even before virtually all the other Time Lords were wiped out- but as he talked about his conversation with Snow White, I knew without needing to ask that my friend would be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested, the topics that Snow questioned the Doctor about are intended to imply that she's started the train of thought that would lead to the events of the fourth book in Hines' series, _The Snow Queen's Revenge_ ; in an attempt to save the dying Beatrice, Snow used her magic to create a new body for her, but the ritual backfired and resulted in Snow taking a turn for the worse…

**Author's Note:**

> To those who don't know, the other world that the Doctor and Bella have just arrived in is the world of Jim C. Hines' 'Princesses' series (And how it can exist in the Doctor's world _will_ be explained soon); putting a darker spin on the fairy tales we're familiar with, the series focuses on protagonists Princess Danielle Whiteshore (AKA Cinderella, possessing the ability to talk to animals and an unbreakable glass sword forged by her mother's spirit that can cut anything but Danielle's own flesh), Talia Malak-el-Dahshat (AKA Sleeping Beauty, possessing formidable martial arts skills due to the gift of grace she received from the fairies at her christening, forced to flee her kingdom when she awoke after giving birth to her twin sons and murdered her rapist as he was now the 'official' king, now apparently no longer requiring sleep after her century of doing nothing but), and Ermillina Curtana (AKA Snow White, a sorceress who was forced to flee her kingdom after killing her mother, able to weave various spells using her mirrors as a focus when away from her mother's original magic mirror; the role of the dwarves in this series will be explained later).
> 
> As for the force that the Doctor detected through the rift…
> 
> Well, that will be revealed later.


End file.
